Key Points
- The Board of Selectmen is considering creating a permanent committee to oversee Town Hall renovations and future municipal building projects.
- Ongoing maintenance issues at Town Hall and the Annex are driving renewed discussion about long-term facility planning.
- Selectmen expect to revisit the proposal and refine the committee’s charge at their Aug. 17 meeting.
Why It Matters: A permanent facilities committee could shape how Wilton plans, prioritizes and oversees major municipal building projects for years to come, beginning with long-delayed Town Hall renovations.
The Board of Selectmen is considering creating a permanent committee to oversee major municipal building projects and long-term facility planning, reviving a concept that once existed in Wilton as growing concerns over the condition of Town Hall and the Town Hall Annex have renewed discussion about the town’s aging facilities.
Board members discussed the idea at their Monday, Aug. 3, meeting, agreeing the concept warrants further review before deciding whether the committee should focus solely on the Town Hall campus or have responsibility for all town-owned buildings.
“Back in the eighties, when I was a part of these local boards and Board of Selectmen, there was an actual Facilities Committee,” First Selectman Toni Boucher said. “I don’t know what happened to that.”
“It was a permanent committee and they took on things like the renovations … It had many permutations [and] they also took on different projects with the schools, not just repairs, major repairs, but also the rebuilding.”
Unlike the last two major project-specific building committees established for the Police Department headquarters and Miller-Driscoll School projects, officials said the committee under discussion could remain in place permanently to oversee future municipal building needs.
Town Hall needs driving discussion
The conversation comes as officials said the Town Hall campus faces mounting maintenance needs — something Boucher has brought up frequently during her tenure.
Earlier in Monday’s BOS meeting, Acting Director of the Department of Public Works Jeff Pardo brought one such need to the selectmen, requesting approval to spend $34,150 from the Town Building Needs Fund to replace a damaged, leaking window in the Annex.
“Right now we have, I believe, $106,000 available,” Pardo said of the fund that would cover the work.
Separately, the BOS is considering allocating funds for an architectural review of Town Hall and hopes to earmark $250,000 for that work from the new Capital Non-Recurring Fund, which was created after voters approved it in May at the Annual Town Meeting.
Voters at the ATM two years ago also had authorized $1.6 million in bonding for the planning, design and renovation of Town Hall but the town has not yet borrowed that money. Officials acknowledged that cost estimates developed years ago are already out of date.
Boucher said that it has been more than 10 years since Wilton first began exploring a restoration or potential rebuild of Town Hall.
“This is just going to be a long process but there’s no question that the conditions at the Town Hall and Annex have reached a point where we need to take a serious look at it,” she said.
Looking beyond individual projects
Second Selectman Ross Tartell prepared a three-page draft proposal outlining what he called the “Wilton Town Hall, Annex and Municipal Center Building Committee.” Although the document was distributed to Board members just before Monday’s meeting and briefly discussed, it wasn’t publicly released. GOOD Morning Wilton obtained a copy after the meeting.
Tartell’s draft explained the project-specific committee’s charge as evaluating current and future facility needs for the Town Hall Campus and recommending a coordinated plan for the repair, renovation, modernization and long-term use of the buildings.
The draft’s mission also calls for the committee’s work to preserve the historic character of Town Hall campus, while ensuring the facilities meet modern operational needs and requirements.
More than a dozen objectives are also listed for the committee, including reviews of needs and plans, pursuit of grant opportunities, status reports to the BOS, and recommendations of various kinds including vendors, design and cost evaluations.
Tartell said that the BOS has talked about having a Town Hall building committee for a long time and that his goal was to begin moving the process forward.
“I don’t think we need a vote but we need consensus,” he said.
As discussion progressed, however, several board members suggested expanding the committee’s charge beyond Town Hall.
“Maybe the next step might be to reincarnate the Facilities Committee … and create a body that is there permanently to oversee building projects, whether it’s Town Hall or the Annex or name-the-next-building,” Selectman Rich McCarty said.
McCarty also questioned whether the campus would or should involve the Fire Department headquarters as well.
Relationship to existing committees
The discussion also raised questions about the role of the Wilton Capital Planning Committee, which was originally formed as the Town and School Needs Assessment Priorities Committee to review the reports compiled on town and school facilities about three years ago.
“The thought isn’t lost on me that we had that needs assessment committee … We should grab a hold of that effort,” McCarty said.
While Boucher had tried to expand the charge of the WCPC last year, asking that it look into potential sales of town-owned properties among other things, some officials questioned whether its large and diverse membership made it less effective and unable to reach clear consensus.
Boucher emphasized that at this time creating a building committee — whether Town Hall Campus-specific or more permanent to oversee all town facilities — would not involve any spending or allocations.
“This is just getting the ball started and right now we would not have financial implications … Until a committee is convened with people that can really ascertain (needs), the real experts to guide it, we wouldn’t really know what the financial needs would be,” she said.
Selectman Matt Raimondi said he was not opposed to the idea but wanted additional time to review Tartell’s draft proposal and discuss it more as a board.
“My request would be maybe let’s table it to the next meeting … I think if we’re going to vote on the committee we should agree on what the charge should be,” he said.
Tartell agreed, reiterating that part of his goal was just to spark conversation.
Boucher appeared to be in strong favor of a new permanent committee, but indicated the matter should be examined.
“We have a lot to think about as we evolve this charge,” Boucher said, noting the BOS would continue discussing the proposal at its next meeting on Aug. 17.
