Striving to firm up its mission and move forward with its charge, the Wilton Capital Planning Committee (WCPC) held a short meeting on Wednesday, June 18.
Along with scheduling two extensive site visits in the next few weeks, the committee came to a loose agreement that it would keep its focus solely on recommending projects that would cost more than $250,000.
At the same time, Chair Jeff Rutishauser noted that the WCPC should also deliberate on trying to fit smaller repair and renovation items that were needed, under the umbrella of larger projects in order to qualify for bonding and to simplify workflow.
“This is trying to get the things that, on the face, are capitalizable,” Rutishauser said.
Rutishauser distributed the draft of a document outlining a capital project definition and scope.
At this time the document defines a bondable project as being “a single project, or series of related subprojects that could be defined as a single project, that has an estimated minimum cost of $250,000.” It also also defines it as “a project or series of projects that have estimated lifetimes in parallel with bonding so that the bonds are fully paid before the estimated life of the project has happened.”
“Projects that fit one or both of the categories above will be considered candidates for WCPC review and prioritization,” the draft says, noting that items that don’t qualify will be considered non-bondable and should be paid through individual operating budgets, or through either the town’s non-recurring capital fund or the town’s infrastructure fund.
“So if it’s not bondable, effectively we’re saying, ‘Not our mandate,'” Board of Finance Chair Matt Raimondi said in agreement.
The WCPC is working to determine both short- and long-term capital funding recommendations related to town and school facilities. Working from a long list of priorities that were determined by a consulting firm that investigated both school and town buildings, the WCPC plans to recommend the next series of projects that will, in all likelihood, be brought to the Annual Town Meeting next May for bonding approval.
Rutishauser emphasized that the new document was still a draft and open to more committee input.
“I just wanted to get something on the table so people could react,” he said.
Earlier this year, questions arose about what exactly can qualify for bonding, with a bonding counsel advising the town on what smaller items could be put under the umbrella of larger projects, including extensive work being done at Middlebrook School.
Raimondi raised the issue of some projects potentially receiving approval, but then lingering ad infinitum without getting underway.
“One thing that I’ve just heard from people around town is that there’s a lot of bonds out there that haven’t been done,” he said.
Raimondi recommended “making sure the things we recommend will get done under a certain timeline, and if we don’t think that’ll happen, we don’t recommend it.”
First Selectman Toni Boucher, who has consistently shared concerns about overworking her staff, cautioned that, as the WCPC make recommendations on projects, it should be aware of the impact each would have on the time and bandwidth of town employees.
“We have to seriously address the capacity to actually do those projects and that is why I recommend we slow down the bonding projects,” Boucher said, noting that the town currently had too many open projects.
“We have a staff at the Department of Public Works that is really maxed at the amount of work they are undertaking,” she said.
“There’s a point where you have to stop,” she said, and determine whether staff capacity is up to the task.
Boucher noted that early in the budget process, the Board of Selectmen had been considering hiring two new maintenance workers, along with purchasing a van and equipment, to have in the field to meet some facility repairs.
DPW Director Frank Smeriglio, who has on several occasions expressed concern over his own workload, supported Boucher’s point.
“Those have to be part of the consideration of things going to the Board of Selectmen … Clearly there’s no sense raising capital for things we don’t have the staff to do,” he said.
Toward that end, Smeriglio asked the WCPC to help guide discussions on a maintenance and repair responsibility agreement between the town and the Board of Education. Smeriglio said last week that confusion between his department and Wilton Public Schools maintenance has resulted in arguments because the delineation of responsibilities has not been clear.
“I’d like to see if we can entice the town and the BOE to have a conversation amongst themselves how they allocate who does what in each building,” Rutishauser said. “That’s really not a capital item necessarily, but it’s … operating,” he said, suggesting it wasn’t part of the WCPC’s purview.
Boucher suggested a simple solution for a memorandum of understanding.
“An MOU could be as simple as, everyday routine work is done by the BOE for the schools, and everyday routine repair work is done by the Board of Selectmen for the town buildings,” she said, “and capital improvements, like roofs, HVAC, exterior shell of the building, site work like drainage and parking lot pavement, grounds … all of those would fall under the Department of Public Works.”
“It’s simple, it’s almost intuitive,” Boucher said. “It’s probably what’s been happening over time, but maybe just having it on paper for future reference is not a bad thing.”
Rutishauser made the suggestion that the WCPC do two separate facility tours — one of the school buildings and another of town buildings. He said that each could be done in about three hours and urged everyone to take part.
On Friday, June 27 at 10 a.m. the WCPC is scheduled to meet at the BOE building/Wilton High School entrance for the school buildings’ tour.
On Friday, July 11 at 10 a.m. the WCPC is scheduled to meet at Town Hall for a tour of the municipal buildings.
The tours will be considered public meetings and are open to public attendance.
