Board Considers Future Task Force Costs

Aside from the one, two, three of First Selectman Dave Campbell's proposed municipal building shuffle, numbers—expenses—have been little discussed by the Facilities Study Task Force. The potential for the group's final recommendation to affect the town budget came under scrutiny at the Board of Selectmen meeting Thursday evening.

Campbell's three-phase plan to rearrange town-owned facilities involves moving the Board of Education to the former library at 35 Leroy Ave., and knocking down the current Senior Center building on Edgerton Street after moving the program to the Town Hall.

Shovel won't meet the ground just yet. To gauge the feasibility of the project, Campbell has proposed a rough $10,000 study; and prior to that, a free-and-fast space-allocation survey by the Facilities Study Task Force.

"I know the Task Force recommendation has a long road to hoe in terms of getting past our board," said Selectman David Bayne. "Are there any budget implications for what the Task Force is proposing for this fiscal year?"

As she's said since the mission began, Task Force Committee Chair Selectman Jayme Stevenson said that specific financial analyses are beyond the purview of her group's "phase one" charge.

"We've done no numbers. Numbers are coming in the second phase," Stevenson said.

That's not to say the committee has been remiss in considering the affordability of the proposal. Broad stroke expenses have helped guide the group's study of feasibility, but discussion of specific costs related to the move is strictly a "phase two" project.

"The Task Force will be recommending further studies on one or two scenarios. We could possibly be asking for some cost analysis for architectural schematics," said Stevenson.

Such studies would likely come out of this fiscal year's budget as a request from contingency or from the capital Board of Finance infrastructure reserve, said Town Administrative Officer Karl Kilduff.

"Anything subsequent to that would start looking like a capital project. And then you're off to the races with project approval at that level and potential bonding," said Kilduff.

Bayne said that it would behoove the board to budget for anticipated costs now, if they are in fact anticipated; but Stevenson said that she could not assume anything without the Task Force's final vote.

As for when the board should begin to consider budgeting for a related capital project, Kilduff said it was almost impossible for him to give hypothetical budgetary planning advice.

"I can't react to any specific recommendation, because I don't have a specific recommendation I have to react to or plan for," he said.

The Facilities Study Task Force will present a final recommendation to the Board of Selectmen at a special meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 24.