Members of the Wilton Capital Planning Committee clashed Wednesday evening, Dec. 3, over their planning process, with one going so far as to say it was a “waste of time” — and some members of the public were not pleased to witness it.
“I view this meeting as embarrassing, truly embarrassing,” resident Sara Curtis said during public comment.
With a wounded Finance Department leaving large gaps in exactly what money is available in Wilton’s accounts, the WCPC tried to work on developing a priorities list for future capital funding, but the conversation quickly became mired in inadequate financial information and clashing perspectives on process.
WCPC Chair: Costs “Not Necessarily Germane”
On Monday, Dec. 1, the Board of Selectmen made a request to have the WCPC make a presentation to it at its next meeting on Dec. 16.
But judging by Wednesday’s meeting, the WCPC wasn’t in agreement as to exactly what they were supposed to tell the BOS. WCPC Chair Jeff Rutishauser said that he and Department of Public Works Director Frank Smeriglio would represent the committee at the BOS, though he said others were welcome to attend.
“We haven’t given an update until now, but that’s appropriate,” he said.
Thought he was not specific as to who authorized it, Rutishauser also explained at the top of the meeting that a request had been made for the committee to not focus on the finances.
“Given the amount of effort at the Finance Department to get the basics going again, the request was made for us to stand back until such time that they could provide that information to us,” Rutishauser said. “It’s not necessarily germane to what we do because we’re looking at ranking things based on the future. How they’re going to get funded is a Board of Selectmen issue anyway, so … we’re just going to focus on the projects going forward.”
“They’ll marry up with the money sometime in the future,” he said, referencing the BOS.
He said that the committee has until the end of February or early March to make its recommendations.
Waste of Time
At least one committee member didn’t hold back about feeling that his time was being wasted without the necessary information to plan or make decisions.
“I don’t know why we’re at this meeting,” member Rich Santosky told the WCPC, noting that he left work two hours early to get to the 5 p.m. meeting at Comstock Community Center on time.
“We opened the meeting talking about how valuable everybody’s time is,” he said, but pointed out the information being presented by Smeriglio was the same he had read earlier in the day when it was sent to him.
“I don’t need somebody to read off the bullets to me. I read ’em,” Santosky said.
Smeriglio set out to present some details on nine different possible projects proposed for bonding. However, along with not having accurate financial numbers available for several of them, WCPC members were also told that multiple other projects would be presented at a later date by the Board of Education, the Fire Department and the Parks and Recreation Department, along with possibly more from the town — but that those suggested projects were, in essence, unknown at least as of that evening’s meeting or were not able to be discussed by the WCPC.
While Rutishauser sought to defend still meeting so that Smeriglio could at least talk a little about those first nine projects, Santosky was adamant that it would have made more sense to just wait until they had everything on paper, since they couldn’t make any decisions with that information anyway.
“I’m here tonight,” Santosky said. “I want to get 16 or 20 done, not eight. Eight is not worth my time. And maybe I’m not the right guy for this committee because eight is not worth my time.”
Santosky also pointed out that project costs had to be considered in order to prioritize them, especially because at the moment no one really knows how much money the town actually has in hand.
No Accounting for Accounting Unknowns
One key example was the first item Smeriglio presented — a request for $2.1 million for road restoration.
WCPC member Matt Raimondi, former chair of the Board of Finance (and the bipartisan-endorsed candidate for an open Board of Selectmen seat), pointed out that the former chief financial officer for the town informed them earlier this year that there was already more than $4 million sitting in an account for road restoration as a result of previous bonding.
Smeriglio said he had included a blank column in his spreadsheet to account for unknown information until actual numbers were unearthed.
“Once the accounts are reconciled, it gets put into that slot,” he said, agreeing that former CFO Dawn Norton did say that the account currently held millions, but it could not be confirmed since the department is in some degree of disarray since her sudden departure.
“Once we know the actual amount that’s in the account after it’s reconciled, that value goes here and this may go to zero or some number,” Smeriglio said of the blank spot.
At this time an interim CFO named Joseph Centofanti is working on a part-time basis to reconcile the accounts at Town Hall, but progress has been slow. The town is also hoping that it may finally hire a new full-time CFO by the end of this week, pending her acceptance of an offer letter.
BOE Chair Ruth DeLuca questioned looking at the figures being presented.
“The cost [presented] is irrelevant, as we don’t know what the [actual] cost is,” she said.
First Selectman Toni Boucher told the WCPC that it wasn’t their job to engage in budgeting and consider costs.
“You’re here to prioritize what’s needed,” she said.
Several WCPC members challenged Boucher on her contradictions.
Santosky countered that if it wasn’t their role to look at the numbers, then numbers shouldn’t be part of the discussion. “If we don’t need to see the numbers, take the numbers off,” he said. “If we’re number blind, take the numbers off.”
Boucher responded, “But the numbers are going to be critical when it’s time for the Board of Selectmen to actually choose.”
Likewise, DeLuca pointed out the circuitous logic.
“I appreciate the fact that if the numbers don’t matter then the numbers shouldn’t be here,” DeLuca said, “but if we’re supposed to be of service to the Board of Selectmen and make recommendations to them, and they’re looking at a criteria that we’re not looking at, then how valuable are our recommendations?”
BOF member Rudy Escalante agreed that the WCPC really should be considering a complete list of projects, in particular the BOE list of facility needs, which was the largest component.
“We’re evaluating in a vacuum,” he said.
“Fell Out of the Sky“
Another point of contention among WCPC members — and a couple members of the public — was the topic of building a new Town Hall. In the list of possible bonding items he presented, Smeriglio highlighted $600,000 to potentially be sought for preliminary design work for a Town Hall rebuild project estimated to cost around $35 million.
“We need to decide if we’re going to spend $35 million,” Escalante said.
Santosky noted this was another decision that needed to be made first by the BOS and BOF, and that there was no point in the WCPC members debating it until then.
The question was raised of whether the town even wanted a new Town Hall. If so, it was also pointed out that $1.5 million already had been allocated for window replacements and heat-related repairs to the current building, and the question of whether the town should be throwing good money after bad was discussed.
Boucher defended the $600,000 expense as part of what was needed so that the town could even evaluate if it wanted to invest the full amount in the project.
“It’s so big of an expenditure … You have to put in some investment,” she said.
Superintendent Kevin Smith described the Town Hall project, for WCPC’s purposes, as appearing to just fall out of the sky.
“It reappeared tonight … This kind of fell out of the sky from a previous conversation,” he said, agreeing that the BOS needed to make some decisions.
The WCPC also had competing opinions about putting the $330,000 request for a new DPW snowplow truck and accoutrements in the capital budget. While it was something that was done last year to save that money from the BOS operating budget, some members wondered if it was in the town’s best interest.
“This is not a decision for this group to make … We need to have some guidance from the Board of Selectmen or the Board of Finance,” Escalante said.
Wise Investing
Santosky also made an argument that the town shouldn’t assume the items, at least those included on Smeriglio’s DPW list that are deemed ‘absolutely necessary’ must be purchased. He raised a question of whether the town might potentially be better off contracting with a private local gas station rather than investing an estimated $1.2 million to have its own underground fuel system replaced.
He also pointed out that $940,000 estimated for a culvert replacement construction project on Old Huckleberry Rd. seemed very high, questioning the need to make it as large as was being discussed.
“My gut check says that’s a lot for a box culvert,” he said.
New BOF member (and former BOS member) Kim Healy stressed the importance of having a permanent CFO in place and able to provide context from an affordability perspective.
“The Board of Selectmen is going to need a working Finance Department to guide them through this process,” Healy said. “They can set some kind of guidelines … but what’s gonna help is having a CFO in place and getting advice from that person when they’re situated.”
During public comment, Resident Barbara Geddis also questioned the value of holding the WCPC meeting when there are unknowns regarding finances, as well as details on other potential projects.
“It’s not worth even my own time at this point,” she said of attending the meeting.
Curtis, meanwhile, was clearly frustrated at having town employees, including Smeriglio, attend the WCPC meeting in the first place when there is neither vision nor planning going on.
“There has been no involvement, no recognition of anything the public might want to do (and) I think the public is watching,” she said.
“It’s a mess … I had great hopes and I have to say that ’embarrassment’ is the only word I can come up with,” Curtis said.