Council Debates Its Role, Placement In CIP Process

By John Voket

Gary Davis, a District Two Legislative Councilman, proposed August 5 greater council influence at the earliest stage of the town’s capital improvement planning process. During the regular meeting, ten council members engaged in a spirited discussion of the idea.

Council Chairman Will Rodgers and Councilman Joe DiCandido were absent.

“The council should be more engaged up front instead of at the end,” Mr Davis said of the process that currently sees the Boards of Selectmen, Education, and Finance reviewing, prioritizing, and vetting large-scale town capital project proposals that range from major road and bridge replacements to the current high school expansion.

Mr Davis said by giving the council members an opportunity to ask questions, the group would be more attuned to the proposals the council is expected to endorse or reject as the final step before the debt service for those projects is factored into the annual budget proposal.

“We should have the ability to participate,” Mr Davis said, adding that perhaps the process might make more sense and be expedited if the council and finance boards received reports on capital proposals from the respective town and school department heads in a joint meeting as the first step in the CIP process.

That way, Mr Davis said, both the council and finance board would be proceeding from the same page. Additionally, he said having both groups in the same room at the CIP’s onset would provide an opportunity for the council to “define the most important priority between the Board of Education and the Board of Selectmen.”

Democratic Councilwoman Jan Lee Brookes, also a candidate, recognized that there is no definition as to how the CIP process should roll out according to the town charter, but she sees “some value” in the CIP “coming to the council last.”

“I agree that each side has top priorities, but the Board of Finance doesn’t have good tools to evaluate what’s best for the town,” Ms Brookes said. “And we don’t either.”

She suggested the Board of Selectmen might consider employing a process that was recently developed for the school district to help the school board develop and prioritize capital projects. That process, and the technology to assist in vetting projects, resulted from a strategic planning initiative the school board and district completed earlier this year.

Councilwoman Patricia Llodra, a GOP candidate for first selectman, said she was not convinced putting the council’s influence into the CIP in its earliest stage was a wise move. And she appeared to challenge her fellow council members to follow the process as it stands now more closely, in order to be better informed once it falls to the council to vote on the ranked proposals.

“Maybe we don’t feel well informed here,” Ms Llodra said. “And maybe that is a matter of personal responsibility.”

Respecting Priorities

Ms Llodra recognized that in the past, the finance board has always tried to respect the top priorities as put forward by the selectmen and school board.

“They are not in competition, as we may have thought in the past,” she said, adding that “the Board of Finance not only seeks to address the priorities, but they work to make it fit under the debt cap.”

Ms Llodra was referring to a cap on financing which is held at or below ten percent of the overall budget. Coincidentally, earlier in the meeting, that debt cap adherence was cited by the town’s bond rating agency in a positive affirmation of a Aa2 status ahead of a short-term borrowing initiative.

Councilman Jeff Capeci, also a GOP candidate for reelection this fall, said the finance board considers all the top priorities. He acknowledged that the council could afford to be part of the CIP process as early-on as possible, but recognized the value of discussing the ramifications of such a move with the finance board members before making a binding decision.

“We should also give these new tools a chance before changing the process,” he said, referring to the school board’s improved CIP program.

Councilwoman Po Murray said the problem with the CIP is its five-year scope, and that as she sees it, “the Board of Education and Board of Selectmen make their priorities in a vacuum.”

“[The CIP priorities] should be made together and should be made to fit in a long-term plan,” Ms Murray said. “The CIP should be a funding tool. If the [prioritizing] process is not integrated, it will cause a problem.”

Democrat Joe Hemingway, a candidate for the Board of Selectmen, weighed in, saying, “The CIP is a plan and a funding tool. The Board of Finance looks at financial [implications] and we look at the political.”

Mr Hemingway pointed out that council members are not restricted from attending any or all finance meetings on the CIP, and are typically invited to add input if council members make a request to do so.

Ms Llodra said once the CIP is released from the selectmen and school board, the vetting process is in the hands of other elected officials.

“The Board of Selectmen and Board of Education have to trust in those agents to make the priorities,” Ms Llodra said. “By [proposing to] assert ourselves, we are usurping other boards in the process.”

No Venue For Questions

Mr Davis said when the CIP is first introduced, there is no venue for council representatives to ask questions, and that once the council gets the approved capital proposals from the finance board, “decisions have been made, and we only have time to ask a few questions. Some of us like to ask a lot of questions.”

Mr Davis countered that it might be more helpful for the council to get the first look at CIP proposals coming from the school board and selectmen, and to “say what we think is the number one priority.”

Councilman John Aurelia said ultimately the council has the final word on the CIP by Charter. And council Vice Chair Francis Pennarola added that the council can call or recall anyone involved in the process to answer questions directly, even though the council is the final step in the process.

“We have the authority to invite anyone in before, during or after [the CIP is approved by the finance board],” Mr Pennarola said.

“You can ask as many questions as you want, but you don’t necessarily get answers,” Ms Murray countered. “I ask a lot of questions, and I don’t feel there is an open invitation to get answers. I was hoping we could change that.”

Ms Llodra said perhaps the council could all agree there is some distrust in the process ahead of the council’s involvement because some of the CIP request documents are “woefully inadequate.” But she felt under the new request process, and documentation being initiated by town Finance Director Robert Tait, “that will change. My preference is to look at the tools and process first.”

Interim Democratic council appointee Paul Lundquist, who is running for a full term this fall, said he does not see a detriment to bringing the council in earlier in the CIP process, “unless it causes interference.”

“Telling them what we think [ahead of deliberation] defeats the purpose,” Mr Hemingway said.

Mr Davis said if nothing more results from the discussion, he wanted to make clear that that if council members attend finance board meetings on the CIP, council members would have be extended the courtesy to ask and have questions answered.

Mr Pennarola said during a discussion with finance board Chairman John Kortze before the meeting, he was assured that council members would be extended the courtesy.

Ms Murray wrapped up the discussion, which resulted in no vote, by saying the council should affirm Mr Kortze’s statement.

“Get it in writing,” Ms Murray said.