Selectmen, Town Officials Clash Over Capital Projects

At a lengthy and sometimes heated meeting Monday night, the Board of Selectmen—joined by representatives from many of Darien's departments, boards, and commissions—clashed over the town's major capital priorities, as rifts came into view over the urgency and financing of several pending building projects.

Up for debate: the already approved but long-deferred revamps of Weed Beach and Darien Police headquarters, along with a proposed transformation of the old library at 35 Leroy Avenue into a new home for the Board of Education. Selectmen and audience members were sharply divided on when—and in some cases, if—to begin work on the three items.

The $3.6 million overhaul of Weed Beach and the $15 million police headquarters rebuild earned town approval over two years ago but were shelved at the outset of the financial crisis by the Board of Selectman's decision not to sign the requisite contracts.

First Selectman Dave Campbell's $3.4 million 35 Leroy plan, for which selectmen reviewed a preliminary architectural analysis a week ago, would see the Board of Education shifted to the renovated space, clearing room for the Darien Senior Activities Center to move into the board's current facility abutting Town Hall. That move, in turn, would leave room to construct affordable housing units at the senior center's 30 Edgerton Street location.

CAMPBELL'S PROPOSAL

Campbell began Tuesday's two-plus-hour debate by lamenting the deteriorating state of the facilities in question, "all a result of negligence and minimal maintenance over the years."

"It's not much much different than a homeowner not taking care of his house, and that's what's been going on in this town probably for 30 years," Campbell said.

Under a plan Campbell circulated to the board over the weekend, the start dates for each project—and the resulting bonding—would be staggered, with 35 Leroy starting this winter, followed then by Weed Beach in fall of 2011 and police headquarters in March 2012.

By spacing out the start dates, the town could avoid bonding $24 million all at once, Campbell said. As a result, the town's bonding level would top out at $83 million, whereas starting all three projects together would bring that number to $97 million.

"The goal was to minimize the impact on the mil rate, to keep it as smooth as possible," Finance Director Kate Buch said.

Selectman Jayme Stevenson praised this aspect of the plan, noting that it would leave room for unforeseen projects down the road.

"Aside from revisiting some dollars for flooding in the future, there isn't anything today that we know of that we need to spend capital dollars on, but that certainly doesn't mean that tomorrow there won't be," Stevenson said.

"There's plenty of room in five years ... for more bonding if people have something they wanted to do, because this dissipates quickly," Campbell said.

As the board pored over the figures, selectman Callie Sullivan raised a concern about the impact of the various projects on day-to-day expenses, pointing out that "operating budgets have been really stressed." Campbell argued that upgraded, modern facilities would help keep such expenses under control.

"I think it's [the operating budget's] going to be level because what we have now are very costly buildings to run. ... I guarantee you the boiler over at Edgerton is probably blowing oil right through it, not burning half of it," Campbell said.

'A HIGHLY SUBSTANDARD FACILITY'

But the thought of delaying two arguably urgent building projects for another 12 to 20 months did not sit well with everyone in the room.

"What concerns me a lot about what Dave put forward over the weekend is pushing the police station renovation off to March 2012," Selectman David Bayne said. "Not only are we pushing that off to a different Board of Selectmen ... but we're also facing an interest rate environment that, as Jerry [Nielsen] said, is not going to get any better."

"The reason people move to this town and stay here is public safety ... We're asking them [police officers] to work in a highly substandard facility," Bayne added.

"I take exception. Let's not get too carried away here. The senior center is in much worse shape than the police station," Cambpell replied, noting that money could be diverted for temporary renovations at the Police Department in the meantime.

Sullivan echoed Bayne's criticism, arguing that "having already voted once on doing on the police station, and voted once on doing Weed Beach ... I think that they should not be the things that we hold."

But according to Campbell and Kilduff, the funding originally promised to the Weed Beach project is no longer available, as the Board of Finance has become wary of withdrawing $1.6 million from the diminished general fund. That money will now have to be acquired by bonding, said Kilduff, as with the other $2 million earmarked for the undertaking.

"If the $1 million is not provided, then you have to wait for another bond authorization," Kilduff said. That, he explained, would require Representative Town Meeting approval, which won't be available until the RTM meets in September.

"You're not going to have a shovel in the ground by September," Kilduff added. "You're going to break ground in December—maybe, if we're lucky—at the earliest. That's a very compressed construction schedule," owing to the imperative not to disrupt the beach season.

A 2011 start date goes against schedule put forward last month by Parks and Recreation Commission chair Jane Branigan, who said at the time she was "hoping upon hope" to break ground in October.

Branigan, seated in the audience Monday, inquired where Town Counsel Wayne Fox had derived the authority for the Board of Finance to back away from an RTM-approved project.

"How so? How did he come up with that reasoning that the town could renege on what all boards had previously passed?" Branigan asked.

Bayne, also unconvinced, asked to see a written opinion to that effect.

"I'm not doubting that the Board of Finance is acting in the fullest of good faith and that they're doing what they think is right. I'm just questioning their legal authority for doing it at this point," Bayne said.

'WE ARE SHOVEL-READY'

The criticisms from outside the board Monday night were somewhat sharper. 

"I cannot believe that the taxpayers of this town would not be willing to spend $63 next year to have a first-rate police facility," said Paul Johnson, chairman of the Darien Police Commission, referring to the extra cost per taxpayer of beginning the headquarters revamp upfront.

"We are shovel-ready. We can go out to bid tomorrow," Johnson added, arguing that significant maintenance issues—including a collapsed ceiling in the men's locker room—were hindering police business. "If you put this project last, you're just slapping the face of these police officers and the other seven people who work at this building."

Branigan said the board would be wasting time by scheduling the least defined project first.

"You are not shovel ready. The police station is and we [Weed Beach] are," Branigan said. "How long would it take you guys to be shovel-ready to go ahead with the switches and everything else? While you futz around with that, these two projects could be done."

"I don't feel that we would be wasting much time," Campbell replied. "Ours doesn't need a shovel, for one thing," he added, noting that the senior center swap would only affect building interiors.

Parks & Recreation Director Susan Swiatek warned that while "these are all valid projects ... I need you to remember that we don't just have staff in the Weed Beach bathhouse during the season and the senior center year round, but we have the public in these buildings."

"You've got water pouring in during rainfall, you've got rotted windows and doors," Swiatek added.

Campbell responded to the pushback by invoking the town's responsibility to address the "abomination" of the current senior center.

"Let me say something I heard earlier that kind of pissed me off. Somebody said that the senior center's my project. All of these projects are my projects. They're all of our projects," Campbell said.

"You've got elderly people walking up and down stairs with walkers. The whole thing is a joke, and we should all be embarrassed as a town for letting it happen for so many years," he added.

THE $8 MILLION FIX

That brought the conversation back to the senior center, as Bayne expressed trepidation about the possible price tag of the three-building shuffle.

"I've got believe there's less than an $8 million fix," Bayne said.

"It's not an $8 million fix for a senior center," Swiatek responded. "It's a senior center fix among a host of other community services."

Sullivan, too, questioned whether moving the facility to Town Hall would be better than constructing a "purpose-built senior center" on the current site.

"Over and over and over again we have put people in spaces that weren't designed for them, and that's when we end up with maintenance issues ... It isn't as easy and it isn't as cheap as we always think it's going to be," Sullivan said.

"Don't say it should not be here, because this is the perfect place for it," Branigan interjected, citing the presence of the gymnasium, the elevator, social service offices, and other conveniences at 2 Renshaw.

"There's so many synergies that could happen with the senior center in the town hall complex," agreed Joe Pankowski, chairman of the Commission on Aging. 

But, he added, "The reality is we don't have time to sit here and figure out what's happened. It's been too delayed. We're now in an emergency situation."

SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER

At Stevenson's suggestion, the board ultimately agreed to hold off on prioritizing the capital projects until September, citing a need to study the issue further and lower levels of public engagement during the summer vacation season.

Buch assured that delaying a decision would not interfere with the September bonding deadline for the 35 Leroy project.

"Our key is just we have to get started on it by September. So we're going to start," Buch said.