UPDATE/CORRECTION — 4:30 p.m.: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified an item listed on the agenda for tonight’s BOS meeting as one that had been put there at the request of one of the BOS members. It regards a contract for Guy Whitten Field lights.
The contract that is on the agenda for tonight is for the purchase of lights for the field from Musco Sports Lighting, which needs BOS approval.
The contract that Selectman Rich McCarty actually asked First Selectman Toni Boucher to put on the agenda for discussion is one with Waterfield Design Group, an architect being contracted for work on renovating the field, that Boucher signed in May 2024 without proper approval from the BOS. As a result of that signature, a payment of $43,318 was made to a vendor — all without BOS approval. That violates state statutes.
When former BOS member Kim Healy asked about it at the Nov. 18 BOS meeting Boucher deflected the question. When the selectmen pressed her on it, she said she didn’t want to discuss it until the department head responsible for it could attend the meeting — effectively blaming Parks and Recreation Director Steve Pierce. When GOOD Morning Wilton asked Boucher for an explanation, she didn’t fully answer the question and provided an email with a timeline she said would explain her role, suggesting she’d been presented the contract a full year later in June 2025. However, it does not explain why she actually signed the contract in May 2024.
Editor’s Note: I’m taking a rare step to add a personal, editorial comment on this story. I’m asking the current Board of Selectmen members to do what you’ve been elected to do: safeguard the way the town is operating. When you are sitting at the table, it is your responsibility to speak up when you ask the first selectman to do something and it isn’t done, or when something improper has happened.
We’ve seen them speak up at times sometimes. Healy and McCarty asked Boucher to discuss the Waterfield contract, and McCarty specifically requested that the Waterfield contract be added to the Dec. 1 — tonight’s — BOS meeting. Selectmen have the right and responsibility under the charter to request items be added to the agenda. Boucher did not add it to the agenda.
This has happened repeatedly. The selectmen have asked for Interim CFO Joseph Centofanti to appear at the BOS meetings in person. He has only appeared once, via Zoom. Boucher said he would be at tonight’s meeting. He is not on the agenda.
They’ve asked for updates on the police headquarters project, on fees spent on legal services, on finance department issues, and multiple other items. Sometimes they get excuses for why these updates don’t appear on the agenda, sometimes they get no reason at all.
It takes work and digging, and asking for documents and justification and proof. Healy did it. Many times she spoke up without any other BOS member stepping forward to add a voice asking for answers. It’s time for that to happen from everyone at the Board table.
— Heather Borden Herve
Editor, GOOD Morning Wilton
ORIGINAL STORY, 3:30 p.m.: Wilton’s Board of Selectmen has a meeting scheduled tonight, Monday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m., and it’s an important one for residents to watch or attend. Residents can find the agenda online and tune in via Zoom. (Attend in person at Comstock Community Center, 180 School Rd., Room 31)
It’s the first meeting of the new term and some significant events are scheduled — and even more interesting, some significant events have not been scheduled — on the agenda. Here’s what to watch for.
Democratic Majority
For the first time in, perhaps, ever, the five-person Board of Selectmen has a Democratic majority, with three Democratic members — Ross Tartell, Rich McCarty and David Tatkow — and currently one Republican member — First Selectman Toni Boucher.
The fifth seat is still vacant after the resignation of Republican Josh Cole last month.
It’s also a significant point that the majority does not include the first selectman, setting up an unusual dynamic to watch as the members on this board’s makeup figure out how to work with one another.
Second Selectman
Each new term, the BOS selects a second selectman, the person who would step in to fill the Town’s top position should the first selectman not be able to lead or perform certain duties. With the resignation of Cole, who was the former second selectman, it leaves the remaining four members to decide tonight who will be selected.
With the new Democratic majority, the question is whether the Democratic party leaders have predetermined who’ll be the chosen BOS member to be put forward. Will it be Tartell with seniority? Will it be McCarty, who has started to take an active role in holding Boucher to account?
While the vacancy on the fifth seat remains unfilled, any vote that takes place with the remaining four BOS members — on this or any other matter — that is split at two-two will be decided by Boucher’s tie-breaking vote if consensus can’t be reached.
This is the first topic listed for discussion on the open public portion of the meeting.
Filling the Fifth Seat Vacancy
The process of filling an empty seat on the Board of Selectmen has hit a controversial bump or two in the last year. In July, when former selectman Bas Nabulsi resigned, McCarty was selected to fill his seat. However, the process to do so earned criticism from town officials and members of the public when it seemed like Boucher was putting her thumb on the scale by both interviewing candidates separately from the other BOS members and discouraging some candidates from even meeting with the BOS.
This time, the BOS members have spoken up about making sure the process is transparent — with both outgoing BOS members Cole and Kim Healy speaking up vocally about filling the vacancy quickly and properly.
Replacing Cole, a Republican, means someone from his party has to fill the vacancy. Last week a unique phenomenon occurred when the Wilton Republican Town Committee announced it was nominating former Board of Finance Chair Matt Raimondi — who had lost a re-election bid in early November — for the position. Raimondi’s nomination was supported not just by Republicans (including Healy, Cole and former First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice), but also by several prominent Democratic voices, including official statements from the Democratic Town Committee, DTC Chair Tom Dubin, State Sen. Ceci Maher (D-26), State Rep. Savet Constantine (D-42), Board of Education Chair Ruth DeLuca, Board of Finance member Tim Birch and more.
Raimondi has been lauded by many on both sides of the political aisle because of his financial acumen and his past leadership during difficult budget cycles. But he has also been a vocal critic at times of Boucher, so people familiar with town politics are eager to see what happens when the nomination is discussed at the BOS table.
There is no discussion scheduled on the agenda, but the selectmen did say that they don’t intend to rush the process in order to allow anyone who wanted to put their name in for consideration for the seat would have time to.
What Else Is — and What Isn’t — on the Agenda
- CFO Search — ON the agenda: The agenda for tonight’s meeting is a full one, and includes a significant topic that has been at the forefront of issues facing the town — the empty CFO position. In July, Wilton’s former CFO Dawn Norton was discovered to be working full time in Wyoming at the same time she worked full time for Wilton — and her job ended shortly thereafter.
The BOS members will start off the meeting in an executive session interviewing a candidate for the job. Sources close to the process have indicated this candidate is “promising” and a strong contender for the job — so strong that Boucher has included as part of the open public part of the meeting a discussion to consider extending an offer of employment to that individual and disbanding the CFO Personnel Search Committee.
- Interim CFO — NOT ON the agenda: The consulting interim CFO, Joseph Centofanti, an employee of PKF O’Connor Davies, has been working for the town since the end of August on an hourly basis. However, Centofanti has made only one appearance in front of the Board of Selectmen since he began working with Wilton. The selectmen have been eager to hear details about progress on the financial accounting mess left behind by Norton as well as specifics on fees being charged by PKF O’Connor Davies and what employees of the company are assisting Centofanti.
BOS members expected to hear from Centofanti directly at their prior meeting and were surprised he wasn’t in attendance. Even Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker was unaware that Centofanti wouldn’t be appearing. Instead, Boucher read a brief report from the interim CFO that didn’t have much new information from his past update, and she promised he would be in attendance at the Dec. 1 meeting.
However, the agenda posted on the town website for tonight’s meeting does not make any mention of Centofanti or any update regarding the finance department work.
- Guy Whitten Field Lights Contract — ON the agenda: At the last meeting several BOS members raised concerns about a contract that Boucher signed and payments she authorized to a vendor on the Guy Whitten Field lighting project without proper BOS approval. They’d asked questions prior to that of Parks and Recreation Department Director Steve Pierce and Boucher pushed off answering the selectmen until Pierce could be present. [Editor’s note: GOOD Morning Wilton has outlined dates and information that Boucher had provided that don’t exactly line up on the topic.] Selectman McCarty specifically asked Boucher to make sure the topic of the contract was placed on the agenda for Dec. 1, and it is listed. IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ UPDATE/CORRECTION AT TOP OF STORY]
- Ambler Farm Lease Draft — ON the agenda: The topic of a lease agreement between the Town of Wilton and the Friends of Ambler Farm was initially presented for approval to the BOS in April 2025 before hitting concerns from some BOS members and the Board of Finance about the structure of the lease. The lawyers went back to discussing changes, and a revised agreement will be brought to the BOS members tonight.
- Police Station Update — ON the agenda
- Sale of Town Property Procedure — ON the agenda: The Capital Planning Committee that has been charged with evaluating the current infrastructure needs of town and school buildings, and determining spending priorities, has spent time both touring town properties but also devoting several meetings to discussion town-owned properties that could be sold off. One member even raised questions about whether selling properties has become too much of a focus.
- Police Union Contract — ON the agenda: Back in February 2025, news broke that contract negotiations between the union representing the Wilton Police and the Town had hit a stall and officials were headed to arbitration. Now, selectmen will discuss and possibly approve that contract that would retroactively cover 2024-2027.
Excellent News Alert!! Thank you. It is very helpful to have.