Discussions On Fairfield Hills’ Future Generate Ideas And Arguments

By John Voket

The Independent Party of Newtown, and its Chairman Bruce Walczak, issued a statement April 6 that calls for a new Charter Revision Commission to be seated this year “to modernize leasing provisions for our town, including property at Fairfield Hills.”  Among the IPN suggestions was the elimination of the Fairfield Hills Authority.

The statement was the latest in a series of discussions of how the town should proceed with its continuing administration and development at Fairfield Hills.

Councilman James Belden of the IPN told The Bee April 6 that while he is not in support of having a permanent authority managing Fairfield Hills, a proposed change in its empowering ordinance would eliminate any possibility of the town or its officials entering into “negative leasing” situations where services are negotiated in lieu of cash payments for leased property at the former state hospital site.

“The change to the ordinance at least solves that problem,” Mr Belden said.

Council Chairman Jeff Capeci agreed, saying he does not see a charter review happening in the short term to consider changing lease provisions exclusively, but that charge may be among a raft of changes a future charter commission might consider.

Mr Capeci said he plans to move forward with a public hearing on the Fairfield Hills Authority ordinance change as soon as the legal language has been reviewed and endorsed by the town attorney, and all public comment would be considered in the council’s eventual decision for or against amending the ordinance.

In the IPN press release, Mr Walczak proposes “merging Fairfield Hills into existing town departments and commissions and eliminate Fairfield Hills Authority.”

First Selectman Pat Llodra pointed out that most of the ideas espoused by Mr Walczak have been on the table for about a year, and most of the sweeping changes would be in place by, or as early as, July 1 when the new fiscal year begins.

The concept of eliminating the Fairfield Hills Authority was discussed among council Administrative Committee members March 31, and according to the minutes of that session, council Vice Chairman Mary Ann Jacob supported phasing out certain Fairfield Hills operational expenses in the next budget cycle with costs associated with Fairfield Hills integrated into appropriate town departments to reflect the integration of the property into town operations.

And while IPN Councilman Gary Davis suggested building that sentiment into the committee’s motion on the Fairfield Hills budget proposal, his colleague George Ferguson pointed out the council is not vested with the authority to direct action on Fairfield Hills as part of the committee budget review process.

“That’s the responsibility of the Board of Selectmen,” Mr Ferguson said.

Mrs Llodra said she has been prepping town department heads at Parks & Recreation, police and Public Works Departments for that eventuality since mid 2010.

“In fact, the Parks & Recreation Department has taken over the landscaping management already,” Mrs Llodra said.

The first selectman has also been discussing the creation of a police substation at the entrance to the facility, where local department personnel would be able to go to monitor traffic going in and out, to complete paperwork, and to provide support and oversight to any private security force that might still be required for the campus.

“Security will be managed by the Newtown Police Department effective July 1,” Mrs Llodra said, adding that a part-time administrative assistant has already been relocated from the Main Street police building to the municipal center, where she will also assist the town’s Department of Community Development.

In addition, outside facilities management services will be reduced 50 percent as of July 1, and Mrs Llodra said she has already informed manager Maria DeMarco that by 2013, no outside management of Fairfield Hills would be required.

Mrs Llodra said that public works crews have already stepped up their duties in place of outside vendors hired through DeMarco and the Fairfield Hills Authority.

“All of those actions are charged to me and are under my management as supervisor to all those departments,” Mrs Llodra said.

In terms of Mr Walczak’s call to eliminate the authority outright, Mrs Llodra said she will remain respectful of the Fairfield Hills Master Plan review that is still ongoing. But once that ad-hoc group has completed its work, she is ready to begin the initial steps in a review process to “determine what government structure is most appropriate to manage the campus.”

Responding to a question about whether the authority will still be required once the ordinance regarding leases on the campus is modified, and campus maintenance security and grounds keeping are decentralized to local town agencies, Mrs Llodra said, “Given that circumstances are so different now than when the authority was formed, we need to determine whether we need that body to do that work,” the first selectman replied.

Mrs Llodra said no matter who is calling for outright and expedited elimination of the authority, she is committed to a process that involves engaging authority volunteers and the Board of Selectmen in discussions.

“We really owe it to the community to examine what the world would look like without the Fairfield Hills Authority,” Mrs Llodra said. “We’re certainly not inclined to jump to the last page before all the necessary work is done.”

Mr Walczak explained the IPN’s assertions in the release represent “the next logical step in what we’ve been asking for and criticizing over the years.”

“It’s debatable whether the Fairfield Hills Authority has abused its purpose, but it’s certainly outlived it’s usefulness,” the IPN chairman added. “The charter is a big piece of it as well, because the provision on how leases are done needs to be changed.”

Mr Walczak believes the framers of the charter never anticipated Newtown would be engaged in the level of potential lease transactions originally anticipated to occur once the community acquired Fairfield Hills from the state.