In a stunning show of unity, the four Board of Selectmen members refused to second a motion by First Selectman Toni Boucher to go into executive session to discuss some kind of unknown interest in the Gilbert & Bennett School property.
BOS members expressed concern about incomplete information put on the agenda at the Tuesday, Jan. 20, BOS meeting regarding a private discussion Boucher wanted to have, which appeared to include possible interest in the property.
Members of the public, meanwhile, are distraught that Boucher is even entertaining these talks privately, as the overriding opinion of those speaking out is that the town as a whole needs to consider and decide what it would like to see done with the property.
Rather than let Boucher go into executive session based on the phrase “Disposition of Town Owned Property,” per the agenda, BOS members made her reword her motion to include specific reference to G&B before they then unanimously approved it.
Then, in another odd turn of events, the BOS later briefly came out of executive session after the public portion of the meeting had already largely concluded in order to invite six additional people into the executive session discussion for reasons unknown, according to Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker. These individuals included Whitney Beaumont, Craig Johnson and Mike Foster, all of the Wilton Land Trust; and the three principals of Twelve Gods Brewery — Orem’s Diner owner Demetri Papanikolau, Athanasios Panolis and Rafael Rodriquez.
The Twelve Gods team told GOOD Morning Wilton in 2023 that their aspirations extend beyond just brewing craft beer. They were involved in getting a new town ordinance passed in 2024 to allow the manufacture and sales of beer in Wilton for on-site and off-site consumption, which complemented 2021 zoning updates that paved the way for brewpubs.
The men told GMW that not only did they want to increase brewing capacity and but they also wanted a more permanent community presence with “some sort of tap room where you could come and try then buy our beers. And at some point, expand that taproom into something with full seating — either indoor or outdoor — into a beer garden,” Panolis said at the time..
After Tuesday night’s meeting, officials provided no additional information on why the six individuals had been included in the executive session meeting on G&B.
Public Pushback Had an Impact
In opposing Boucher’s initial motion to go into executive session, BOS members were prompted — at least in part — by concerns expressed by some residents who have reached out to members by email and public comment. Generally speaking, they want to see officials seek out more public input earlier in the process as the town considers the future of the historic town-owned property, rather than having Boucher privately entertain inquiries about its possible sale and development.
The former G&B school was built in 1915 and ultimately ceded to Wilton after both Redding and Ridgefield, which shared in the school built by the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Company for many years, built their own schools. While there were no specific restrictions placed on the use of the structure that Wilton obtained because it was on its town land, the building is on the National Historic Register, which creates some exterior deed restrictions.
At Boucher’s behest, the Wilton Capital Planning Committee has been examining the viability of selling off or renting certain town properties. The WCPC has talked about the G&B building as a possible candidate for either a sale, rental or some kind of public-private partnership, as it’s in need of more than $2 million in interior repairs.
Selectman David Tatkow led the way Tuesday night in advocating for more town-involvement with regard to the future of G&B. He spoke up during the Selectmen’s Reports before the executive session topic was even broached.
“I’ve gotten a lot of people who’ve reached out to me in the last few days just based on what was commented on in the public domain and I just want to say, [to them] ‘I hear you,'” Tatkow said. “I think it’s very clear that this is something that is very important for a lot of people in the town and my view from the feedback that I’ve gotten is that the path forward for this is significant — and in my view, more significant than this group at the table here — and for me personally. I’m not comfortable moving forward with anything, if something were to be proposed, without some sort of public discussion, some sort of public committee that possibly could give input on different paths, whatever those paths might be.”
Boucher responded carefully. She acknowledged that it was a significant building and one that would require a level of community approval, but did not indicate a change in her approach to this process, which includes her and potentially the BOS privately holding discussions about it.
“Well, I think that our Charter prescribes that there are public input and processes,” Boucher told Tatkow, “and of course it’s a significant building with historic preservation requirements, so anything that might be considered needs to consider the fact that that building needs to be preserved in its historic state.”
“Yes, we did get some comments and we’ll probably get more, and for that reason I made sure that we responded to all of those emails,” she said, stating she provided people with a document stating “the legal procedure we all have to follow, as well as what’s in the Charter.”
It’s unclear whether the guidelines that Boucher is following are legally required or just the preferred opinion of town counsel.
Boucher added, regarding the people who reached out to her, “I wanted them to know that there’s no sale right now of that building or property pending at this particular point and that we would be sure to make any serious considerations that we might have on it public, when we’re able to do so legally, that Wilton residents would be part of the process.”
She went on to say that previously there had been “a number of interested parties,” none of which were ever identified nor discussed publicly.
“There was never no [sic] offer for the Board of Selectmen to even consider or bring anything forward, as they never followed through on anything they were looking at,” she said of these unknown interested parties, though she implied that there was some level of contact between those parties and the town.
Boucher cited the Freedom of Information Act as allowing her and the BOS to have discussions behind closed doors, even though they would be discussing interest in the property from unknown entities.
According to the Town’s own guide to FOIA laws, discussion of the lease, sale or purchase of property that would adversely affect price is one reason to hold an executive session. However, that same guide cautions that the agenda notice needs to be specific — as when officials discuss litigation, the agenda needs to include the name of the case being discussed, and not just reference “discussing litigation.” BOS members mentioned that.
Selectman Rich McCarty made a point of having 12 separate documents put into the record in order to give the public a chance to review the history of G&B.
“There’s been a lot of discussion and I thought it would be appropriate to level-set the information that is available in a multitude of places in one place so that people who are interested in this topic can see what’s out there and are aware, at least as of Jan. 20, what the documentation is out there,” McCarty said.
Selectman Matt Raimondi suggested that at a future meeting the BOS members should give their individual opinions on the general sale of town-owned properties, as well as providing thoughts on specific properties under town jurisdiction.
“That way people in the community — they may like that, they may dislike that — but they can at least hear what we think,” Raimondi said.
Several members of the public expressed their thoughts to the BOS on the G&B building, including Janis Sposato of Wilton.
“It’s an important town asset,” she said. “There’s a lot of town interest (and) when you have such public interest in something, you need to involve the public and often.”
Sposato and others cited large development plans taking place in Georgetown through the town of Redding. This was referenced both as an indicator of the future value of the G&B property as that area evolves, and also as an example of a municipality eliciting and involving public input.
“We need to engage the town in that kind of way, not at the end,” Sposato said. “Now I know you have some kind of interest or proposal or whatever you have. It’s a little premature because we don’t have that planning in place, so I’m here to plead [that] we need that planning, we want that planning.”
Longtime resident Barli Nugent said that Wilton not only needs a wise disposition of the G&B property, but a better process in its regard.
“The town needs more trust with each other,” Nugent said. “It needs more transparency. And I just want to suggest that this is a great opportunity to continue to build that for this town and to build our trust in each other, our relationships with each other, and let this process really be something that contributes to that.”
“Let’s be together on this,” she said, “and really know what’s going on and understand what’s going on.”