Boucher Faces Pushback from Selectmen on Audit, Staffing and Transparency

As concerns mounted over finances and staffing, Board of Selectmen members pressed First Selectman Toni Boucher on oversight and decision-making at Monday night’s (Apr. 20) BOS meeting.

Newly published GOOD Morning Wilton reports last week detailed how Boucher misrepresented information and bypassed proper process — both in town administrator hiring efforts and in an undisclosed offer on the Gilbert & Bennett School property. At Monday evening’s BOS meeting, she repeatedly pushed back on questions, suggestions and requests from the selectmen regarding the administrator search and management of the contracted interim chief financial officer.

Boucher: “Fortunately We Don’t Have a Lot of Projects”

Last Friday’s late-afternoon surprise announcement that Department of Public Works Director Frank Smeriglio plans to leave marks another key personnel departure from Boucher’s administration in the past year. In recent weeks, Boucher had advocated for a pay increase for Smeriglio, repeatedly stating at public meetings that he was overburdened and needed relief — including proposing a new DPW managerial position to help manage the many projects under his oversight. That position was ultimately denied by the Board of Finance and the other selectmen.

On Monday evening, however, Boucher offered a different assessment. She said the department has skilled engineers and a reliable assistant director, Jeff Pardo, who could handle the workload during the search for a replacement. “Fortunately we don’t have a lot of projects,” Boucher said, adding that outside help could be brought in if needed.

Among current and upcoming DPW projects are bridge work on Honey Hill and Cannon Rds. through 2027, 2026 road paving, dredging at Merwin Meadows Pond and Comstock Brook, the Raymond Ambler Farm House restoration, and multiple facility upgrades, including at Wilton High School, Cider Mill and Town Hall.

The town will consider nine additional capital projects at this year’s Annual Town Meeting, some of which will be under the aegis of Parks and Recreation, and some under DPW management.

Where’s Joe? Questions on Interim CFO

Town Hall’s management of outside help, however, elicited sizable concern from the other four BOS members regarding oversight of Interim CFO Joseph Centofanti.

Centofanti was hired as a consultant by the town at the end of August 2025, to help get Wilton’s financial picture in order following the sudden departure of former CFO Dawn Norton.

Centofanti’s charge was to get the FY 2025 financial books in order so that the town could proceed with the required annual audit. If a Connecticut municipality does not have its audit completed six months after the fiscal year end and filed by June 30 with the CT Office of Policy and Management (OPM), it faces potential financial penalties, state oversight, and reputational damage. Towns can apply for monthlong extensions during the audit preparations, but the state filing deadline is firm before potential penalties can be imposed.

Although it’s not a given, missing deadlines can result in reviews that impact state funding and late audits can impact credit ratings, especially if there are problems in multiple years. Last year, Wilton kept its triple-A rating with Moody’s but in the FY 2024 Federal and state audit reports — which were also filed late — the auditors disclosed a material weakness in internal controls over financial reporting.

Centofanti, whose firm PKF O’Connor Davies has billed the town more than $200,000 through March of 2026, has not only continued to push back the estimated date of when he would complete his work, but aside from one appearance in front of the BOS by Zoom on Nov. 3, 2025, he has not given any kind of report nor attended a meeting of the BOS or Board of Finance since then, despite repeated urgings from the BOF.

Boucher, however, defended Centofanti as being very busy. She also said, despite a very firm request from the other BOS members Monday evening that he meet with them, that she could not guarantee if or when he might be available, but once again said they would hear more about his work at the next BOS meeting.

Seeking Oversight

Even Second Selectman Ross Tartell, who has stood by Boucher over the past year amidst many challenges that have arisen relating to her management and problems at Town Hall, pushed back on Centofanti’s ongoing absence and relative silence.

“From a leadership perspective there has to be a certain amount of oversight, and what he’s done is build a world that he’s working in that makes looking into that world very hazy,” Tartell said.

He cited Centofanti’s statement months back that he had 38 items that he was focusing on, but noted that there has never been an update since the fall. Instead, the BOS has merely gotten continued reassurances from Boucher and, more recently, new CFO Dawn Savo that Centofanti is working hard, despite Boucher noting several times over the winter that Centofanti was juggling more than a dozen other clients and had to limit his hours in Wilton, where he is billed at $375 per hour.

Boucher said at Monday’s meeting that Centofanti has “committed that at the end it would all work out well.”

Savo also sought to again describe some of Centofanti’s progress in getting the town’s 2025 financial picture completely in order in time for the annual audit, which has already been significantly delayed and has that drop-dead deadline of June 30, 2026.

“We’re communicating via email because he sends emails to the staff all day long … so that’s the communication that’s going on,” Savo said.

At prior meetings, Savo previously reported Centofanti’s promises that everything would be completed before the end of February, and then later extended that to say it would be wrapped up by the end of March.

“This is a Problem”

Tartell urged Savo to try and help the BOS understand what was happening.

“We can’t look into there, the four of us can’t, so we’re  … looking to you to pierce the veil and report back, because he’s been very effective at creating this and we’ve colluded in it,” Tartell said in reference to Centofanti’s seemingly unknown work methods and progress.

Selectman Rich McCarty also said the BOS needed to hear from him, possibly in an executive session if any of the information he had to present could relate to possible legal actions relating to the town’s finances.

“Our patience is at its end and I’m not trying to be dramatic … We need to hear more about exactly where he is,” McCarty said.

Selectman Matt Raimondi concurred.

“It’s disappointing that we are where we are,” he said. “I can’t say that emphatically enough. This is a problem.”

“We’ve paid him a lot of money,” Raimondi said, indicating that the amount could top $300,000 before all was said and done.

Selectman David Tatkow also chimed in.

“We’ve extended a lot of patience … but there is a credibility issue here,” he said, noting it would be “proper” for Centofanti to make an appearance before the board.

Boucher still sought to disagree.

“This gentleman has 40 years of excellent experience … I think we have to allow the process right now to conclude,” she said.

Personnel Searches

Likewise, Boucher sought to dissuade the BOS members from being too involved in what she said was the first selectman’s search for a new DPW director.

At Monday’s meeting, after board members raised restarting the town administrator search committee as well, board members suggested they do both hiring efforts simultaneously. Boucher countered that there wasn’t enough time right now.

“It’s very time-consuming and we have a lot of things on our plate right now,” she said. “Right now the focus is on our audit and the financial departments and our payroll department needs as well. There have been some illness in the department so we have other priorities.”

“If you could just please let us take one step at a time and, yes, we will get the other process started,” Boucher said. “It doesn’t mean that this one has to conclude first … but there’s a staging to this process and if you could let us do that.”

Tartell reminded Boucher that much of the preparation work for the hunt for a town administrator had already been done, but she said the job description had to be revised because of what she cited as changes to the organizational chart.

“Things have changed … The responsibilities have changed … There are four fewer departments to administer,” she said.

McCarty pointed out that they could still initiate the search for the town administrator immediately — a position many elected officials are hoping to see filled as soon as possible, owing in part to a sense that Boucher is overwhelmed in her role.

“I will take it under advisement,” Boucher said in response.

Board Discussion

While Boucher sought to move on with the meeting, Raimondi pointed out that to the extent the town administrator role had changed, it was warranted for the BOS to have a discussion about the organizational chart and that administrator’s responsibilities in relation to it.

Boucher told the selectmen at a prior meeting that she had unilaterally decided to move the Human Resource Department under the CFO’s management. CFO Savo also newly manages the tax assessor and collection departments.

“The Board of Selectmen, which oversees department heads, has not opined on that,” Raimondi said. “I’m saying I would like to, as a member of this board, I would like to opine on it … It is a (Town) Charter responsibility of ours to do that and we haven’t done that.”

Boucher disagreed.

“The Charter responsibility says that the Board of Selectmen gets to approve a department head hire, fire and compensation,” she said. “That’s the extent of the Charter.”

Raimondi said, however, that if they’re going to approve hiring someone they should know what they were hiring them to do.

“I’m not arguing with you on this,” he said. “I’d just like to have a conversation.”

Boucher, however, continued to argue defensively.

“No Board of Selectmen has ever ever approved a writing of a job description,” she said. “That is under the purview of H.R.”

McCarty and others persisted that they merely wanted to have what Tartell called “a consultation” on the matter.

In the end, Boucher moved on to the next agenda item without sharing a definitive comment.