After a tumultuous two months, the Board of Selectmen is striving to get the Police Department headquarters construction project back on track, at least in terms of accountability.
While it will likely still come in over budget, completion is now scheduled for Sept. 12, and, if their Tuesday night’s (June 17) meeting is any indication, the BOS members will be paying much closer attention to the project as it winds down this summer.
Following persistent and, in some cases, unanswered questions about the $19-million construction project, including particulars about budget, timeline and project management, on Tuesday, Department of Public Works Director Frank Smeriglio presented a much more definitive update to the BOS than had previously been provided.
Acknowledging assistance from Selectwoman Kim Healy, who has been the most outspoken critic regarding missing or incorrect information presented to the BOS, as well as lack of oversight, Smeriglio prepared and presented a revised budget overview aimed to better answer questions about how money is being spent.
“You should know, Frank spent an inordinate amount of time trying to manage the sheets in a manner that Kim was asking about,” First Selectman Toni Boucher said, qualifying that “current practice isn’t always the same as prior practice.”
Comments, corrections and guidance that were offered in an email sent to the BOS last week — and reported on by GOOD Morning Wilton — by former First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice helped shed some light on conflicting statements made about the project.
Lingering questions remain over why — just a few days after taking office — Boucher opted to remove former DPW director and facilities manager Chris Burney from his management role on the project, despite having been put in place by Vanderslice; and why the BOS, which was supposed to act as the building committee, hasn’t engaged more deeply.
“I think we haven’t been involved in the past as much as we should have been,” Selectman Josh Cole said.
“I’m happy to hear that going forward we’re going to get regular updates, that we’re gonna be talking about this at every meeting going forward … I want to focus on moving forward, making sure that we all have the information that we feel we all need,” he said.
Healy specified that the BOS should receive a summary of minutes of the meetings between the builders, A. Secondino and Son, Inc., and the architect, Tecton Architects; summaries of progress; and approved invoices and change orders, which the BOS will then approve.
Healy said that, contrary to Boucher’s repeated claims and concerns about overwork on the staff, it wouldn’t require much more effort to provide this material.
“I’m not asking for anything that’s not being presented to you guys,” Healy told Boucher.
“You meet weekly,” she said, asking for the minutes of those meetings, which are prepared by Tecton.
Boucher, however, continued to push back, indirectly criticizing Healy once again for a past request for emails related to the PDHQ.
“We’ve recreated, as you recall in the past, a request for all the emails going back between various individuals and it took a week of just time and 7,000 emails were provided on that,” Boucher said. “We don’t want to go through that same kind of process on this, (but) what’s available, you should be provided with for sure.”
Healy noted that she didn’t want to get into a discussion of the public trust regarding the PDHQ project.
“I don’t want to get into where we are with the public’s understanding or feelings about our mishandling of this,” Healy.
Boucher, “We shouldn’t characterize it that way at all.”
“I’ve been asking for appropriate oversight for a very long time,” Healy said. “I have a list of things that I will be satisfied with.”
Smeriglio also took the opportunity to explain that he had been hesitant to publicly share about the amount of contingency for the project, as he stated he didn’t want the vendor to be aware of how much money was available.
Over the past year, however, several unplanned or uncategorized items have required immediate funding, so Smeriglio and his team have incorrectly paid for them out of the contingency fund, thus depleting it more than $200,000 below the original total approved for that category.
“The bottom line is that all projects have different things like this that occur,” Boucher said, defending Smeriglio.
She again stated that there was a balance between the staff doing the work and having to provide information about what they’re doing.
“You need to have a lot of information and disclosure and updates, but on the other hand you also have to allow the people to do the project,” Boucher said.
Healy acknowledged her statements, but pointed out that the project was still in a negative balance.
“I know you’re criticizing me and that’s fine. Whatever. I can be really annoying. But I have not gotten one thing I’ve really asked for,” Healy said, prior to this meeting.
Boucher countered, “Some of it is too much.”
“What is too much? … This is like the first time we’re bringing what we want to the table,” Healy said. “This project has been underway for a year. We have gone round and round … We are the oversight committee.”