Politics & Government

Shuffle Funding Clears Finance Board, Heads to RTM [Update]

Members approved the appropriation and bond issue Tuesday by a 4-3 margin.

Update, 12:09 p.m.:

At a campaign press conference Wednesday morning, First Selectman Dave Campbell said he had spoken with Representative Town Meeting moderator Karen Armour to ask that a special session be held Nov. 1 for a vote on the shuffle appropriation and bonding measure.

That date falls exactly one week before the Nov. 8 municipal election.

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"I think it's important this RTM votes on it. They've been involved for two years," Campbell said. 

He added that pushing the vote to the next RTM might delay a decision until January, given the organizational items on the body's agenda between now and the end of the year.

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"If we push it back too far, we have to wait until next December for [the Board of Education] to move," Campbell said, as opposed to moving over the summer.

Selectman Jayme Stevenson, who was also at Wednesday's press conference, said that the timing of the vote would force the candidates for Board of Selectmen "to keep the seniors at the forefront of our discussions."

A formal request for the meeting will be submitted Oct. 25, according to Campbell.

Original article:

A $6.979 million funding measure for a proposed shuffle of town-owned facilities cleared the Darien Board of Finance Tuesday, sending the matter to the Representative Town Meeting for a possible final approval.

The appropriation and bond issue passed by a 4-3 margin, with Republican Lorene Borne joining the board's two Democrats in voting nay. The Board of Selectmen in a 3-2 party-line vote.

Under the three-phase plan developed by First Selectman Dave Campbell:

  1. The Board of Education's offices would be moved from their current home abutting Town Hall the old library at 35 Leroy Ave.
  2. The Darien Senior Activities Center would be relocated from its worn venue on Edgerton Street to a revamped Town Hall annex, dubbed the Mather Center. 
  3. The Edgerton facility would finally be razed to clear the way for senior affordable housing at the site. (This phase is not covered by the current funding measure but would likely be handled by a nonprofit.)

Campbell and building committee chairman Norm Guimond appeared before the Board of Finance Tuesday to discuss the budget and designs for the project. Describing the shuffle as a "twofer," Guimond reiterated the case that the project was "extremely efficient" in terms of cost and space.

Pressed by board members Jon Zagrodzky to explain the drivers of the current price tag — markedly higher than the Fall 2010 estimate of $4.5 million — Guimond pointed to the unanticipated costs of installing sprinklers; updating heating, ventilation, and air conditioning infrastructure; and building a "bump out" for the kitchen in the Mather Center.

Guimond said that the building committee had scrapped a roughly $400,000 plan to clad the exterior of the Mather Center and had scaled down the size of the facility's health space in order to bring down the cost of the project .

Joe Pankowski, chairman of the Commission on Aging, told the board that the price was justifiable given the project's benefits and the historically low bonding rates now available.

"Are we telling our community that for $1.38 a week, we can't have these wonderful things for our community?" Pankowski asked, referring to the estimated cost per capita. "I say no."

But selectman David Bayne said that while Campbell deserved credit for rallying the town behind building a senior center, "he's proposing basically what should be a $6 to $7 million plan be solved with a $12 million dollar solution," including in the purchase price of 35 Leroy.

"My thought to you is that you should be demanding real numbers on alternatives," Bayne told the board.

Bayne added that the proposed demolition cost for the old senior center — estimated at $350,000 — should also be included. Chairman Liz Mao, however, said that she did not consider demolition a capital expense and that it should be handled from contingency or the town's general fund.

Campbell, responding to the charge that more information was needed on alternative plans, pointed to a 2007 estimate obtained by the town indicating that an equivalent standalone center would run $8 million.

"It's disingenuous to keep saying that all we're doing its running down the street as fast as possible," Campbell said.

Explaining her vote against the measure, board member Martha Banks argued that the project's cost per senior was "astronomical" and that assumptions made about future usage were exaggerated.

"I want the town to have a senior center it can be proud of, but this is not the solution," Banks said.

Among other aspects of the plan, Lorene Borne said she was unsatisfied with the operating estimates put forward for the new facilities.

"There's a lot of questions that have not been answered. ... I don't think 'affording it' is the same as being responsible with taxpayer money," Borne said.

But supporters of the measure cast it as a fiscally responsible and well-developed plan.

"I have a lot of confidence in what's been put together for this," Zagrodzky said, adding that "anyone who knows me personally knows I will pinch pennies until they scream."

"I feel strongly that this is the best site for a senior center," said board member Joe Duwan.

Ultimately, Mao, Zagrodzky, Duwan, and recently-appointed board member James McLaughlin voted for the measure; Banks, Borne, and Gwen Mogenson voted against.

The measure now moves to the RTM. The body's next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 14, but the possibility of holding a special session for the vote — likely before the Nov. 8 election — has been raised.


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