During the Board of Selectmen meeting last Tuesday, June 3, the selectmen had to make some unexpected decisions on projects planned at sports and recreation areas in Wilton.
First, the selectmen had to push ‘pause’ on approving funds for the artificial turf field being redone this summer at Memorial Stadium, after being asked to approve a contract without seeing it first.
Then, in a separate move BOS members voted to shift — at least temporarily — American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that had been earmarked for a public playground proposed for Schenck’s Island, and instead apply the money toward the Guy Whitten Field improvement project in order to avoid losing those federal dollars.
Memorial Stadium Turf — Approve a Contract without Seeing the Contract?
Parks and Recreation Department Director Steve Pierce paid a visit to the BOS to get approval to pay a South Carolina-based company called Sprinturf $778,685 to install a new field at Wilton High School.
Approval was postponed at the last minute, however, because there was no contract in hand to show the board.
At last month’s Annual Town Meeting and Vote, 77% of the voters approved bonding $700,000 for the replacement of the Wilton High School Memorial Stadium’s artificial turf field. Approximately $300,000 was also previously allocated by the BOS from an existing fund to cover costs estimated to be close to $1 million.
Pierce, who said he was working to get the project moving along prior to the town vote, said he researched five different artificial turf companies, all of which told him they are no longer using potentially toxic micro-plastics, or PFAS.
PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl, and includes a wide range of synthetic chemicals that cannot be broken down and are believed to be harmful. They have come under scrutiny in recent years, drawing concern from the Environmental Protection Agency, and they have traditionally been used in the production of artificial turf fields.
“All the companies that we spoke with, none of them are now using PFAS,” Pierce said, having also collected positive feedback about Sprinturf, which is a division of Playcore Company.
“We felt that, after talking to people who used this … the playability is probably the best you’re going to get on an environmentally friendly product,” Pierce said, noting that the city of Greenwich had spoken very highly of both the product and the company itself.
By meeting time on Tuesday, June 3, however, Pierce did not have the actual contract in hand for the BOS to vote on.
Moments before the BOS was going to take the vote, Selectman Ross Tartell spoke up, asking if the approval could be conditional based on getting to see the contract after the fact, when it was delivered.
“I feel uncomfortable not touching the contract … When someone says, ‘Did you look at the contract?’ I kind of feel I have to say, ‘Yes,'” Tartell explained, simultaneously qualifying that he had confidence in Pierce and the details of the agreement.
Selectwoman Kim Healy shared agreement.
“I don’t remember a time that we’ve ever approved such a substantial expense without reviewing or seeing some form of invoice. We haven’t seen one thing on this,” Healy said.
“I think Ross is right, that we should put eyes on some form of paperwork … We meet on the 17th [of June], is that not soon enough?” she asked.
Pierce said that the delay could result in Sprinturf asking for more money, as the summer is its busy season.
“I’m asking that you can consider this upon approval of town counsel,” he said, having just met with the company on Thursday, May 29, and noting that neither he nor the town’s attorney had seen a contract.
Tartell asked the other board members if they shared his “angst” in approving the contract without seeing it, or in essence before it was even written.
First Selectman Toni Boucher said she did not have a concern.
“I really don’t,” Boucher said, indicating that Pierce and his department have been “fairly detailed in reviewing contracts.”
She said, however, she wasn’t sure, if the town attorney reviewed it and found issues, whether that meant it would need to come back to the BOS to be voted on again.
Pierce said that, in his experience, the town attorney will negotiate directly with the company if there are any issues that concern them.
“At that point, when it’s finalized, they’ll have a final copy that will then be forwarded to the first selectman for signature,” Pierce said.
As far as timing was concerned, he said the WHS football team had planned to use the new turf field by mid-August for practice.
“The worse-case scenario is, they can start football practice on the grass,” he said.
Noting that the approval could be done virtually, Boucher said as soon as the town attorney sees and approves the contract, the BOS could convene via Zoom and sanction the contract.
“We’re trying to make it all work, so we have to be a little flexible with our timeframe,” she said, indicating that such a meeting would have to also be properly posted per regulations to keep the public informed.
Pierce said the plan was that the company would be installing a new “shock pad” underneath the field, which he said would have a life more than double the artificial turf, which is expected to last about 10 years and will require some annual maintenance.
ARPA Funds Transfer from Schenck’s Playground to Guy Whitten Field Improvement
Meanwhile, following a request from Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker, the BOS unanimously agreed to transfer $250,000 originally allocated for the proposed public playground project at Schenck’s Island to the ongoing Guy Whitten Field improvement work.
While the playground project is not entirely dead in the water, issues with flooding have put the plans in dry dock.
“We have not given up on the idea of having a playground in town,” Boucher said.
“We have some ideas that we would bring to you at a future meeting … It depends on what kinds of costs are involved,” she said.
Pierce explained that because of the designation of most of Schenck’s Island as a “flood way” according to the state, significantly more funds than originally thought would be needed to build underground support for playground equipment to meet required floodway area specifications.
Because there was no actual contract in hand for the project by the end of 2024, the project became ineligible for any ARPA grant money, however. But the town still holds the option until the end of this month to move ARPA money it’s been allocated over to another project already under construction that meets ARPA requirements.
“We either have to reallocate the funds or we have to send them back,” Knickerbocker said.
Knickerbocker said there were originally $265,700 in ARPA funds made available for the playground project, but that $43,600 already had been expended on engineering designs.
The work being done at Guy Whitten Field includes extensive irrigation, renovation and lighting design, estimated to cost around $700,000.
While I appreciate the BOS doing its thankless job (so thank you!), it sounds like no one has taken into account the other sports and hundreds of Wilton kids that are impacted by this delay. And while BOS may have taken comfort in the fact that “Football can practice on grass” this decision has a trickle-down effect on all of the youth and WHS sports who scramble on a regular basis to secure fields. Is the BOS aware that field hockey is played on turf exclusively? That field hockey games – even at the youth level – don’t count under league bylaws unless played on turf? We all know first hand what happens when a turf field is unavailable for even a few days – last year’s flood threw practice and game schedules across every sport in Fairfield County into complete disarray. Our neighboring towns had to compromise on our behalf – is that going to be our plan again here? I’m frustrated and would appreciate some help to understand our plan B, C and D beyond putting the WHS football team “on grass”.
The more I see going on in Wilton re: projects, money, questionable leadership, LACK of transparency, accountability, consensus and the employment of common sense, the more frustrated, angry and untrusting I’m becoming. Whatever, Steve Pierce’s track record in his position, and it is my appreciation he has done wonders for Wilton, it is inappropriate that there be any notion of committing to a major town expense such as the turf field without a contract in hand and approved.
The oversight of projects in Wilton, a topic now finding its way into the spotlight, is truly curious, potentially irresponsible, reckless and incompetent.
From the saga unfolding with the new police headquarters building, to the Ambler farm lease debacle to name just two. Wilton citizens, taxpayers, voters deserve so much better. One really has to wonder if the town should have been asked to vote on bonding issues based on questionable due diligence this year and arguably earlier.