Wilton’s Ambulance Corps “Very Disappointed, at an Impasse” With The Town Over Its HQ — Says Boucher Derailed Its Property Acquisition Plans

Wilton Volunteer Ambulance Corps (WVAC) currently occupies an aging building on the Town Hall campus that the organization’s officials say is no longer safe, efficient or functional for WVAC’s purposes. Much like Wilton’s police station, fire headquarters, Town Hall and annex, the need to address upgrades, safety and overcrowding in the WVAC facility has been well-documented for years.

As details of Wilton’s municipal facility needs assessment continue to unfold, WVAC’s leaders feel increasingly at odds with the Town over the organization’s facility needs and their efforts to secure a future headquarters. They point to the fact that WVAC’s needs and the Town-owned building it occupies were not included in the Town’s assessment. (WVAC is a non-profit organization, not a Town department.)

With great reluctance to create any tensions with the Town, WVAC’s leaders spoke to GOOD Morning Wilton to share their frustrations with what they see as Town leaders’ disregard for an organization staffed primarily by volunteers and the critical role they play in medical emergency response in Wilton. As one supporter said, “How do you explain that to volunteers who run in where everyone else is running out? They supply all the volunteer aid, doesn’t matter what it is — fireworks, football games – they’re voluntarily there. Other towns pay for that service.”

The tipping point for speaking publicly? WVAC’s leaders also claim the Town — more specifically, First Selectman Toni Boucher — purposely hampered WVAC’s bid to purchase the property abutting Town Hall at 232 Danbury Rd. in order for the Town to pursue purchasing it for other municipal purposes. GMW has found corroboration for WVAC’s assertions from multiple individuals familiar with the circumstances, both on and off the record.

Boucher has been vocal in recent months about the urgent need to update and expand Town Hall campus facilities. GMW sought to find out where WVAC fits in — literally and figuratively — with the Town’s vision.

WVAC Speaks Out

WVAC’s four officers — President John Miscioscia, Vice President Libby Nagle,
Secretary Brian McDermott and Treasurer Betsy Wallon — sent a letter to GMW to express how “very disappointed” they are that WVAC’s needs were not addressed in the Town’s facilities needs assessment, which was discussed by the Board of Selectmen on Feb. 26. (Their letter is printed in its entirety at the end of this story.)

“We fully appreciate the need to upgrade town buildings, but WVAC should be at the forefront of the conversation, not an afterthought,” the officers wrote.

WVAC had engaged the Town for years with ideas for upgrading its facilities, at WVAC’s expense.

“We have had numerous meetings with the First Selectwomen, past and present, the Board of Selectmen, and several town departments to discuss our plans for an all-in-one new headquarters and garage as far back as mid-2022, at minimal or no cost to the Town,” the officers wrote. “We did not discover that our buildings were excluded from the assessment until the report findings were published in January 2024.”

The group believes it is now “at an impasse” with the Town.

“For over two years, we have pursued partnership opportunities with the Town to upgrade [WVAC] facilities, only to be disappointed time and time again. We are currently at an impasse, without a partnership from the Town or a path forward,” the officers wrote.

WVAC officers found it “puzzling” that the ideas for renovating and expanding Town Hall campus facilities presented at the Feb. 26 BOS meeting did not mention WVAC’s needs. Shortly after the meeting, Wilton’s Assistant Director of Public Works/Facilities Manager Jeff Pardo told GMW a rendering showed where a possible new building might be sited. He also said the current building would likely need to be demolished before a new building could be constructed, raising further questions about temporary space WVAC would require during construction.

WVAC’s officers describe mixed signals and long deferrals.

“The Town has changed its position several times regarding whether we could build on the Town Hall campus,” the officers wrote. “Reasons have ranged from the construction of the new police station; other more pressing town needs; challenges regarding the removal of the suspected ledge rock at our proposed building site; parking concerns and [site] coverage issues; disruption to the town campus and its nearby residents; and most recently, an unclear objection to our purchase of 232 Danbury Road.”

The last point proved to be the most alarming to the group.

232 Danbury Rd.

After receiving WVAC’s letter, GMW spoke with multiple WVAC officers who provided additional information and a detailed timeline of meetings and communications with Town leaders, including Boucher, then-First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice, and Town employees including DPW Director Frank Smeriglio and Pardo.

Referring to a Feb. 7 meeting with Boucher, Smeriglio, Pardo and others, Wallon said WVAC leaders believed they had explicit support from the Town for WVAC’s bid to purchase and operate from 232 Danbury Rd.

According to its officers, WVAC was “poised and ready with a broker, attorney, appraisal, building plans, available funds for the property, and a fundraising and grant-writing plan” to make the bid for 232 Danbury Rd. a reality.

WVAC’s all-cash offer to purchase the property was verbally accepted by the seller on Feb. 28 — but the deal was short-lived.

Wallon described a meeting in Boucher’s office that day, which included Peg Koellmer, a WVAC board member and the realtor who represented WVAC in the bidding process. According to Wallon, Boucher made a “stark turnaround” in her position, leading the WVAC officers to conclude the Town no longer supported the idea of WVAC purchasing the property.

The sudden shift was a surprise. Wallon said Boucher raised new concerns about WVAC’s ability to get the necessary approvals/permits from the Town, and relayed a specific concern from Wilton’s fire chief about the use of the fire department driveway, among other issues WVAC could encounter. Wallon said Boucher even made references to “eminent domain” rights of the Town.

Wallon said the discussion with Boucher gave them the clear impression it would be “political suicide” to proceed with the purchase. WVAC withdrew its bid.

Multiple sources corroborated WVAC’s account, including WVAC’s representative Koellmer as well as the owner of 232 Danbury Rd. James Barrett and his William Pitt Sotheby’s realtor Michael Spremulli, representing the property.

“I was surprised and disappointed. First we had a written proposal [from WVAC] to purchase and then they upped it because another party came in with a higher price. [WVAC] made a big, larger offer. … and then half an hour later it was dead. And my agent told me it’s because the town put the kibosh on it,” Barrett said, later adding, “It was a sweet deal, at least it was for 30 minutes. I was a really happy guy. I can confirm that those things were done and that a half an hour later, it was gone. And I heard that it was due to the town, and probably the first selectman.”

Buyer Beware: Helpful Guidance or Message to Back Off?

GMW exchanged a series of emails with Boucher, asking for her response to several questions about WVAC’s assertions.

Boucher acknowledged making comments to WVAC about eminent domain but denied she meant to imply Wilton might invoke it.

“Although the constitution of CT does allow governments to take any land by eminent domain with compensation for a public purpose, I explained [to WVAC] that this is something we would never do,” she wrote.

Boucher described the Feb. 28 meeting with Wallon and Koellmer as helping them to “carefully weigh the risks.”

“Together we discussed the pros and cons of [all] issues that needed to be thought out carefully,” Boucher wrote. “They had to carefully weigh the risks of buying the property and changing [it] to fit their needs and also if the design would be eligible for the permits required.”

Were Boucher’s comments at the Feb. 28 meeting helpful guidance, as she described it — or a thinly veiled message to back away from the property, as the WVAC representatives interpreted it?

“It was their decision entirely [whether] to move forward,” Boucher said.

“Another buyer made an offer to the owner before anyone else could consummate a contract,” Boucher wrote. “My understanding is that the owner accepted the private offer.”

It was unclear from Boucher’s statement where she was getting information about a private sale. Her comments contradict WVAC officers’ accounts of withdrawing their accepted bid. Spremulli, the property’s realtor, said that while there is another developer very interested in the property, “he’s afraid to buy it, in that he may not be able to do there what he would like to do and should be able to do within the terms of zoning, because the town is interested in it and may block his ability to do anything other than surrender it to the town or sell it off to the town.”

Other officials with knowledge of the talks and the property listing but who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal told GMW the seller has not reached a deal with any buyer yet, and that the Town is actively interested in the property.

Boucher would not confirm whether or not the Town is pursuing the property, and cited the confidentiality of matters discussed in executive sessions by the Board of Selectmen. (There have been three such sessions on the subject of “Property” in recent weeks. GMW has also learned that town officials, including the Board of Selectmen, have toured the 232 Danbury Rd. property at least twice.)

Town Planner Michael Wrinn said he was unaware of any moves by the Town to purchase the property.

“I don’t know any details of any negotiations on the property… and don’t know if the Town submitted an offer,” he told GMW in an email.

Wrinn did support the notion that WVAC would have faced some uncertainty when it came to getting approvals/permits from the Town. Wrinn said any buyer would have to have a plan to meet all of the requirements for site coverage and setbacks, and any variance that might be needed “is not a sure thing.”

Wrinn noted the 232 Danbury Rd. property is zoned “R1-A” for residential use, but was approved for office use by a previous occupant (a real estate firm) as an adaptive use.

Wrinn said a new owner could continue office use “without a problem,” but there would be no guarantees for other uses — or additions, new structures, additional parking, or anything else WVAC may have contemplated.  

A Long History

WVAC’s referred to their frustration with “past” first selectmen, not just the current administration. GMW reached out to former First Selectman Lynne Vanderslice for a response.

The building needs assessment was begun while Vanderslice was in office. She explained that the current WVAC headquarters — like the old police department headquarters, set for demolition once the new HQ now under construction is finished — was not included because the assessment was a 10-year work plan for municipal-owned buildings expected to still exist in 10 years. However, Vanderslice says, WVAC was not overlooked in assessing what the town’s space needs were.

“We did expect the Space Study to include the viability of the WVAC expansion,” she wrote. Nonetheless, Vanderslice sounded unimpressed with what she did (or didn’t) find available from the town after the consultant’s presentation on Feb. 26.  [A space needs report had not been finalized, but the presentation can be seen in its entirety on the Feb. 26 Zoom meeting video recording.]

“If it exists, the consultant’s report which explained the rationale for the expansions and addressed the site coverage issues wasn’t on the town website. The contents of the one-page document are not what I expected,” Vanderslice noted.

GMW also reached out to Smeriglio with questions about site coverage at the Town Hall campus and whether all of the Town’s expansion ideas could be accommodated within the zoning limits.

“For any of the potential additions, there are many hurdles,” Smeriglio responded by email. “Coverage is one of them and would have to be analyzed. However, there are many steps that have to happen before the concept plan can advance to the next level.”   

Smeriglio also responded to GMW‘s direct question about whether 232 Danbury was being considered for additional Town Hall space.

“We are aware that the property at 232 Danbury Road is for sale. It could be used as overflow space, but that’s the extent of information we have,” he wrote.

Vanderslice weighed in on what she thought when she heard about WVAC’s most recent hopes to purchase 232 Danbury Rd. It was similar to how WVAC officers described current Town officials’ reaction when they first shared their intention to buy the property.

“I was happy for them as it appeared to be a perfect solution,” Vanderslice wrote. “They were frustrated having to wait until the PDHQ project was complete, and of course with the risk of an Annual Town Meeting approval. Also building on town-owned land meant compliance with the state’s prevailing wage law, which could mean a higher cost for them. This location seemed like a win-win. They would still be close to the police and fire departments with whom they collaborate, there is a traffic light right next door, and with construction on their own property they had greater freedom in their design and would likely construct at a lower cost.”

Vanderslice acknowledged WVAC’s frustration during her tenure.

“I had a learning curve. I am aware there were times when [WVAC] did feel under-appreciated and some members were frustrated with the lack of available town-owned land and the fact that the PDHQ was prioritized before their construction,” she wrote.

Recounting a personal experience with WVAC that she said involved a life-saving transport to the hospital, Vanderslice said she holds the organization in high regard.

“I am forever grateful to them,” she wrote. “I believe any resident who has been in a similar position or had a family member in a similar position is grateful for the WVAC volunteers.”

Moving Forward

In their letter, WVAC’s officers said they were “incredibly hopeful” that the Town would demonstrate more support and resolve the uncertainty about a location for WVAC’s operations.

GMW pressed Boucher for clarity on what the Town envisions for WVAC’s future location. Referring to the existing building WVAC occupies, Boucher wrote:

“They would like to renovate it and we support that.”

But WVAC officers said the notion of renovating the existing facility had been largely dismissed, given the poor condition of the aging building and the insufficient space for WVAC’s needs. For at least the past two years, WVAC’s discussions with the Town have only included plans to construct a new facility.

Boucher said reconstructing the current building would be difficult but “still very doable.”

WVAC’s officers offered a reminder about the value of its response services.

“WVAC has provided critical medical services to Wilton’s residents, businesses, and visitors since 1976. In 2023, we responded to over 1,700 emergency 911 calls. These emergency medical calls, in many cases, require immediate, time-sensitive responses to life-threatening situations. Our volunteers support school sporting and Chamber of Commerce events and provide educational training to local businesses, schools, and religious organizations… The Town contributes $100,000 annually against our $720,000-plus operating budget. We fund capital costs to purchase a new ambulance every 4 to 5 years.”

“Based on actions taken by the Town administration, we don’t believe they value our role in serving the Wilton community.” 

Letter from WVAC to GMW