Wilton Officials Iron Out Plans for “Capital Nonrecurring Fund” (Formerly “Infrastructure Fund”)

Town officials sewed up particulars for the creation of a new Capital Nonrecurring Fund on Tuesday, May 27, and will now share it with legal counsel.

Six elected officials, including two members each from the Boards of Education, Finance and Selectmen, are ironing out details to establish a special town fund earmarked for facility needs, working together on a temporary committee — formerly the “Infrastructure Fund Committee,” but now called the “Capital Nonrecurring Fund Committee.”

The team is trying to keep the guidelines relatively broad, leaving the possibility open down the line for the fund to evolve. At this time, however, it’s a targeted vehicle to address some $200 million in infrastructure repair and maintenance costs that were brought to light through two recent building assessment studies of town-owned properties.

“To my mind, the point of this fund is to give flexibility,” said BOF Chair Matt Raimondi, who is chairing the temporary committee.

Asked about how either the BOE or BOS would decide which projects it might want to see funded through the CNF, Raimondi said it was irrelevant to their purpose in establishing the fund.

“From a fund perspective, from this committee’s perspective, from my view, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “We’re just trying to figure out what happens when it gets here.”

“I think both boards need to figure it out,” he said. “It’s under their purview … We don’t need to be prescriptive about it.”

While it’s not prescribing exactly how the fund will be fed, there are several options that will probably be utilized, including directly seeding it from operating expenses. Final approval of disbursement will rest with the BOF.

Separately, both the BOE and the BOS will determine what items could benefit from a faster, short-term financial solution. At least for the immediate future, these might not necessarily be large-cost bondable items, but the creation of the fund still leaves that open.

“We are baking in the flexibility so that future boards can figure out what they want, depending on what’s up to them,” Raimondi said. “It’s another funding source.”

The BOE will be required to request BOS approval before disbursement from this fund will be considered.

Once BOS approval and subsequent BOF approval are in place, First Selectman Toni Boucher said the regular channels of project execution will be put in operation, through the Department of Public Works, BOE staff or outside contractors, depending on the situation.

“Once that decision is made and the approval is given, then they then take over with regards to purchasing, contracting, oversight and operational functions,” Boucher said.

Boucher and committee member Selectman Ross Tartell have previously expressed concern on behalf of DPW Director Frank Smeriglio, who was fearful the new fund would necessitate more time from him to convene with the BOS or BOF to talk about funding and related work.

“Frank would not need to come to all of our meetings and tell us what’s going on,” Raimondi said.

At the same time, committee member and BOE Chair Ruth DeLuca put in a plug for project updates. Of late, various town officials have expressed disappointment that details and updates are sometimes not forthcoming, with the police headquarters project a specific focus of concern on the BOS.

“There should be a mechanism that if you’re project managing, that you should be able to report back on the status of the project and where it is … I think that it would be important that there was some type of accountability,” DeLuca said.

“It shouldn’t have to be onerous, but it should be a part of the general accountability that all operational projects go through,” she said.

Boucher agreed, but noted it was sometimes a balancing act, given limited staff and resources.

“We can’t also make their job be all about this and not getting the work done,” she said. “It’s kind of like teachers having to do all the reports to the state and (they) can’t teach in the classroom.”

The CNRF is scheduled to meet again on Thursday, June 12.