BOS Pauses TSNAP Advisory Committee Until FY’26 Spending Priorities for Schools and Municipal Facilities Become Clearer

For Wilton’s Town and School Needs Assessment Priorities Committee (TSNAP), the year is ending much like it began — with questions about its mission and the deliverables expected by the Board of Selectmen (BOS).

TSNAP Chair Patti Temple attended Tuesday night‘s (Dec. 17) BOS meeting to provide an update on the committee’s work and to seek further clarity from the selectmen on whether and how TSNAP should continue to assist the selectmen after it reaches a critical milestone: delivering a set of recommendations for FY 2026 capital spending priorities.

The History

The BOS created the advisory committee earlier this year to assist the selectmen with the complex task of sorting through $213 million worth of building repairs and upgrades needed across Wilton’s schools and municipal buildings over the next 15 years.

After kicking off in early July with weekly meetings, the committee members — consisting of representatives of the BOS, Board of Finance and Board of Education along with various department heads and private citizens tapped for their relevant knowledge and skills — struggled to find firm footing in how to approach their work.

First Selectman Toni Boucher has been steadfast in her view that the committee’s work would be short-term in nature — zeroing in on recommendations for capital spending projects just for FY 2026.

However, most committee members — and her fellow selectmen as well — felt a longer-term perspective would be needed. On Aug. 7, following more discussions among the selectmen about what guidance to give the committee, Selectman Bas Nabulsi communicated to TSNAP what the BOS had agreed to:

1. Recommendations for capital projects for FY’26
2. Input to the BOS for prioritizing additional building and space needs over the next two- to five years
3. Feedback on the 15-year capital plan that has been drafted by Wilton’s Department of Public Works based on known information to date

At that time, Nabulsi specifically told the TSNAP committee members their work “is not time-limited” and the group could remain active as long as necessary to meet their three-fold objectives.

That guidance seemed to reassure the committee members that they would be able to take the “holistic view” that would be critical for going beyond short-term fixes and meeting longer-term needs as cost-effectively as possible.

However, at nearly every subsequent meeting, TSNAP members continued to revert back to questions about the scope of their work. As recently as TSNAP’s Dec. 5 meeting, at least one member, Rudy Escalante, asked for further clarification from the BOS.

At that meeting, Boucher reiterated her view that once the committee makes its recommendations to the selectmen for the FY’26 capital projects, “then afterwards, there’s no longer a committee.”

BOS Revisits Its Guidance

The selectmen picked up the discussion again at their Dec. 17 BOS meeting. (Note: Selectman Josh Cole was absent from the meeting.)

Nabulsi lamented the “mixed signals” the committee has received.

“I think that there’s been mixed signals or a lack of clarity as to whether the committee that currently is in place is for the limited purpose of providing recommendations for the upcoming budgeting cycle, or whether the committee would not only provide that service, but stay in existence for a period beyond that, to continue to provide input [and] to help think through the next iterations of the capital rollout.”

Nabulsi added that given the time invested by TSNAP committee members and the tremendous knowledge attained, “it would be hugely wasteful to terminate the committee as soon as they complete the recommendations for the upcoming budget cycle.”

But that wasn’t Boucher’s view. “I think if we go into further years, then we should revisit the committee, its charge, [and] its membership… Right now, I’m interested in getting the best thinking so that we can move forward on 2026,” she said.

Nabulsi disagreed.

“I think that this committee is the one that we should continue forward with, given the investment of time, effort, and knowledge,” he said.

Selectman Ross Tartell also indicated he didn’t want to lose the banked knowledge of the current committee members and, apart from natural turnover, TSNAP should remain “essentially the same people.” Tartell also suggested the Town could use a “vision committee.”

“A comment that I often hear about this town is we are really good for the next year, but you talk about anything that goes out long-term, and our vision gets very cloudy,” Tartell said. “How do you shift a committee that has inclinations to vision? You can’t create vision without data, and [TSNAP members] now have tremendous data, and they’re moving along that learning curve.”

Selectwoman Kim Healy expressed clear frustration with the lingering questions about TSNAP’s mission and offered an apology if she hadn’t been clear before.

“I did feel like I spent a lot of time talking about this last year,” she said. “My thought process and objective for the committee was to take all of the information that we were provided, for all of the school buildings and the town buildings, and come up with the plan to get all of that work done — so it was a much larger plan over the length of time that would be needed.”

“I think the point of it was to take all of the work that needs to get done and come up with a palatable plan” for getting the critical work done, Healy said.

Healy also vented some frustration with the direction of Town Hall renovation discussions.

“I actually don’t think we should expand Town Hall campus, the building, as much as [some] think. We should go back to some of the original ideas that were presented that would cost us a lot less money,” Healy stated, adding that perhaps a separate study group might be considered for Town Hall “because it’s such a big issue.”

“It comes down to money. It comes down to money, and what do we really see as a town, and what can we swallow over the next decade or two,” she said.

Healy further noted she was disturbed to think that anyone may have been led to believe that the Board of Selectmen had already made a firm commitment to prioritize roughly $2 million for Ambler Farm projects for FY’26. [Editor’s note: TSNAP Chair Patti Temple is also the current president of the Friends of Ambler Farm.]

As TSNAP chair, Temple offered her own belief that taking a long-term approach is in the Town’s best interest.

“I look at the 15-year plan as an opportunity for the town because, in my opinion, for too long, plans have been too short-sighted,” Temple told the selectmen. “Too many things have been kicked down the road, pushed aside — which is really easy to do when you’re looking at a very small time period and you’re looking at dollar amounts.”

Temple said serving on the police station building committee taught her something.

“One thing that became very clear to me with the police station is that once people understood the need — you know, the genuine need — it was pretty easy for them to accept” the need to invest in the new facility.

“What lies before the town is quite daunting. The number of projects, the total dollar amount — that’s enormous,” she said.

In the end, the BOS agreed that rather than disband the committee, it would be given a “temporary pause” after delivering its recommendations for FY’26. The selectmen plan to revisit TSNAP’s goals so that it may resume its work in March when budget plans have crystallized.

TSNAP Reaches Key Milestone

Though not all voting members were in attendance at the latest TSNAP meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 18, the committee reached a high degree of consensus about the FY’26 priorities it will recommend to the BOS.

A final vote is expected at a meeting to be announced early in January, after all TSNAP members have had the opportunity to review the latest priority list, which has been fine-tuned over the committee’s last few meetings.

The Dec. 18 discussion included some final tweaks in the rank order of roughly a dozen capital spending project areas, with possible “alternatives” for the BOS to consider.

Boucher refrained from weighing in with her own opinion on the specific priorities until other members had done so. She noted the Board of Selectmen will have their own deliberations on the final selections.

The recommended list is likely to encompass $9 million to $10 million in capital spending. (A final list with cost estimates will be released ahead of the committee’s vote in early January.)

Speaking of the $9 million scenario, BOF Chair/TSNAP member Matt Raimondi said was “ok with that” in terms of debt service cost implications.

TSNAP member Rich Santosky did not let the meeting end without recognizing the dedication of his fellow members.

“As we conclude, I thank everyone for their spirited debate and really appreciate everybody that was here. I think that the entire committee was really, really dedicated, and had the town’s best interests in mind, so I appreciate everybody’s hard work.”

Temple said she agreed and thanked the members for all of their contributions. She singled out DPW Director Frank Smeriglio and Assistant Director Jeff Pardo for their “expertise and patience” in guiding the committee through the vast inventory of building needs.