Management Company Cuts Costs Of Fairfield Hills Operations

By John Voket

Since Newtown acquired Fairfield Hills, a former state hospital that laid abandoned for several years, a management firm contracted to oversee daily activities, maintenance, and security on the sprawling campus has significantly reduced the operations costs while working to expand services and opportunities for residents there.

This information, along with a detailed report on Fairfield Hills property management roles and responsibilities, was presented to the Legislative Council April 1, during final deliberations on the proposed 2009 budget.

According to Robert Geckle, chair of the Fairfield Hills Authority, a volunteer nonpolicymaking panel that hired and oversees the facility’s management consultant, under Maria DeMarco and her DeMarco Management Corp, operational expenses at the campus have been reduced from an average of $1.3 million to about $500,000 annually.

And, Mr Geckle reported, Ms DeMarco has proposed further reducing taxpayer subsidized campus management costs another $10,000 in the coming year.

In records reviewed by The Bee for a series on the issue in 2005, prior to the town acquiring the campus, state taxpayers footed the bills for an extraordinarily expensive level of cosmetic landscaping, snow removal, and security services on the campus.

A review of Department of Public Works (DPW) and Tunxis Management Company records. including itemized expenses related to the costs of property management and maintenance in the 33 months leading up to the sale of the property, Tunxis Management negotiated a $3.3 million contract for managing the property, which lapsed a short time before the town acquired the facility.

Since its contract lapsed, several individuals, including a principal of Tunxis Management, were indicted for conspiring to steer state contracts between 1997 to 2003. Those indicted include former governor John Rowland’s then co-chief of staff Peter N. Ellef, his son Peter N. Ellef II, and contractor William Tomasso of Tunxis Management.

A short time later, Connecticut’s Attorney General Richard Blumenthal sued seven people, including former Department of Public Works commissioner Ted R. Anson for illegally steering contracts to construct two juvenile training schools to companies operated by William A. Tomasso. Mr Anson was heading up the DPW when he authorized the $3.3 million contract for Mr Tomasso’s company to manage the nearly abandoned Fairfield Hills Hospital.

Since the town acquired the facility and an ad-hoc Fairfield Hills management committee first contracted Ms DeMarco, the town formalized the Fairfield Hills Authority, which continued to retain DeMarco Management.

FHA Goal: Self-Sustaining Campus

As commercial and municipal developments ramped up on the campus, it was the Fairfield Hills Authority’s plan to offset local taxpayers subsidizing management and other facility costs through common area charges and lease fees being paid by current and future expected occupants.

Mr Geckle has said on numerous occasions that when fully developed according to guidelines set forth in the approved master plan for Fairfield Hills, it was his hope that the facility would become financially self-sustaining.

During the report to the council two weeks ago, Mr Geckle and Ms DeMarco detailed daily duties of her company, which includes 24-hour security operations, arranging site access and tours of buildings for potential developers, traffic control, meeting with and assisting in alleviating tenant issues, addressing all public inquiries about building and campus use, and overseeing grounds maintenance and campus trails.

Besides working with local police officers on security matters, including the investigation of all thefts, break-ins, and suspicious incidents, Ms DeMarco has coordinated with town animal control officers to enforce the campus leash ordinance, as well as assisting with manually securing all buildings. According to documentation, she has delivered these services at about $17 per hour.

While the former management company Tunxis billed $6,928 for alarm monitoring from Associated Security during the 33-month period, the charge for maintaining security officers and a vehicle on the campus added up to approximately $764,233. Those security and safety charges were paid by the state to Tunxis and passed through to Atlanta, Ga.-based Argenbright and its subsequent owner, Cognisa Security.

Part of both Argenbright’s and Cognisa’s charges included a flat $900 per month fee to provide a security vehicle for patrolling the campus. It also included an additional $900 each month to fuel that vehicle.

Ms DeMarco said in her tenure, she has assisted the Newtown Police Department, several Newtown volunteer fire companies, and state police and military canine units with coordinating training activities on the campus and inside several buildings.

She said assistance in coordinating public functions on site have included the community’s tercentennial celebration, the Friends of the Library Book Sale, and the 2009 Relay For Life, which will be held this year at Fairfield Hills while expected renovations at the high school’s stadium are completed.

Financial Oversight Provided

The current management company also provides immediate financial oversight and reporting of monthly operating expenses, including monitoring utility consumption.

In its coordination of special projects, DeMarco Management has helped prepare specifications and obtained bids in accordance with town policies; designed, bid, and coordinated on all campus signage; assisted renovating the building at 28 Trades Lane; prepared town-owned houses on Mile Hill Road South for auction; helped design, construct, and relocate town and school district offices from Canaan House to leased space on Peck’s Lane; and coordinated the repair of a sewer line from 28 Trades Lane.

Mr Geckle pointed out that DeMarco Management also helped formulate budget projections for the new municipal offices at Bridgeport Hall, developed the pro forma for common area maintenance charge backs, and helped net $35,000 in utility reimbursements to the town. DeMarco works closely with town agents and vendors on various hazardous materials remediation, handling, inventory and disposal activities, as well as coordinating all preservation activities.

Among the preservation activities are the removal of antique clocks for future use, cataloging and documenting all building artwork, and securing the weathervanes from Greenwich and Bridgeport Halls for future use. Ms DeMarco also helped design the layout for the town’s new emergency operations center (EOC), utilized in-house staff to reduce construction costs, and prepared budgeting for the EOC that recently resulted in the town securing a $100,500 grant for the facility (see separate story in this edition of The Bee.)

Besides its work at Fairfield Hills, the council learned that DeMarco Management also manages several state-owned facilities, including the headquarters of the State University, administration offices and the Shoreline East rail stations in Clinton, Madison, Branford, Old Saybrook, Westbrook, and New Haven.

Ms DeMarco spends about 16 hours on site in Newtown each week. While her services have been retained up to the present on a recurring month-to-month contract, several council members, including Po Murray and John Torok, indicated they would like to see Fairfield Hills management services go out to bid in the coming fiscal year.