Town Formally Dedicates Fairfield Hills Campus

By John Voket

There were well-dressed state and local officials, blue skies, even a couple of sheet cakes sporting vintage images of Fairfield Hills buildings; the only thing missing was a governor. Nearly 100 people gathered on the lawn in front of Shelton Hall on the former state hospital grounds last Friday to officially commemorate the transfer of Fairfield Hills to the Town of Newtown.

The late afternoon event, which was hastily organized by First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal and his office staff based on the availability of Governor Jodi Rell to attend, ended up playing host to other high-ranking state officials instead. Both State Public Works Commissioner James Fleming and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal came to speak on Governor Rell’s behalf.

During the attorney general’s brief address, he explained that the governor was, at that very moment, deeply engaged in a meeting involving the Schaghticoke tribal recognition process.

“In fact, I might be asking one of you for a note to excuse me because I’m supposed to be in that meeting right now,” Mr Blumenthal said, half-jokingly, before he departed the campus bound for Hartford a few minutes after the ceremony began.

The absence of the governor did little to dampen the enthusiastic applause from a crowd that spilled from the seating area to a number of guests who chose to stand on the lawn. It appeared that more than half of the audience represented one or more of the volunteer citizens groups, members of which were individually honored with certificates of appreciation.

Mr Rosenthal served as the host and master of ceremonies for the event that also featured brief remarks from State Representative Debralee Hovey, State Senator John P. McKinney, and Newtown resident and State Representative Julia Wasserman.

While Representative Wasserman was singled out by virtually every speaker on the program for her instrumental role in helping the town in acquiring the property, she took the opportunity during her turn at the podium to praise citizen volunteers, Connecticut Department of Health and other officials who worked behind the scenes, and even The Newtown Bee for its role in covering the long and detailed process leading up to the town’s recent closing on the property.

During his remarks, Mr Rosenthal reminded those in attendance of the historic impact and opportunities the new acquisition has brought to the community.

“This is a great day for the Town of Newtown commemorating the second most important purchase in the 300-year history of our town,” Mr Rosenthal said.

During the middle of the program, the first selectman was joined by Selectmen Joseph Bojnowski and William Brimmer, Jr, who lent a hand distributing certificates of appreciation to members of the Fairfield Hills Selection Committee, the Master Plan Advisory Committee, the Ad-Hoc Management Committee as well as several consultants and state officials who played crucial roles in the acquisition process.

After all the certificates were distributed, Mr Rosenthal closed the program by reflecting on the potential of the campus.

“The former Fairfield Hills Hospital is in the heart of our community, both literally and figuratively,” he said. “We have to look at it as both a challenge and an opportunity. We need to move forward to begin the remediation of the property, but we also have to be patient and carefully implement the reuse the property.

“We need to act… to seize opportunities when they are presented to us, but we also need to be flexible and careful so that many decisions are left for future generations.”

The event concluded with a modest reception featuring two sheet cakes adorned with edible images culled from the archive of photos from the facility. As participants basked in the late afternoon sun, many remained on hand to enjoy the refreshments and weave their own stories about experiences related to the former hospital, which was now formally commemorated and dedicated for the use of all Newtown residents and visitors.