Residents who had expected to vote on a local community center project at the upcoming budget referendum may not see that question come up until Election Day after the Board of Selectmen agreed to remove the local advisory question from the April 28 ballot.

By unanimous vote of the selectmen April 6, and on the recommendation of First Selectman Pat Llodra, the planned ballot question requesting to build a planned senior center and aquatic complex using a $15 million gift from General Electric will be put off.

Instead, the Board of Selectmen will be appointing an ad-hoc committee April 20 to review existing data and collect more resident input before issuing a recommendation on how officials should proceed.

Mrs Llodra told The Newtown Bee prior to the meeting that she is hoping that committee could complete its charge within a six-month window, but she was taking a wait and see approach as the panel commences its work — probably by early May.

If that six-month timeline holds true, it is possible selectmen could act on any recommendations to have a question available for November balloting or in a separate referendum in the late fall or early winter.

“We’re in the position to reconsider. I think we’re looking at the need to refocus the task, reset the process, reconstitute in part or whole the group that has been working on the project…create a charge and hopefully a timetable,” Mrs Llodra told her colleagues at Monday’s meeting, 48 hours ahead of the deadline to get an advisory question added to the April 28 budget ballot.

Selectman James Gaston admitted there is no template for the process his board took to solicit resident support of the project through an advisory ballot.

“This is different than expanding the high school,” he said. “There are a lot of ideas — everybody, to some extent, is an expert. It’s important that we hear more from the public.”

He noted that the committee will benefit from an information gathering process that has already started, and robust data already compiled by a previously seated community center advisory panel.

Mr Gaston’s suggestion of an online survey was met with some concern, however. The first selectman responded saying, “We’ve learned that it is a narrow and limited population of people who choose [Internet surveys] to talk to you, but then there are all those people who don’t use that medium. So it’s one way to collect information, but not the only way.”

Mrs Llodra noted a recent and “provocative” Newtown Bee editorial on the subject, affirming to selectmen that, “We need to pause right now. Clearly we’re not understanding the direction” community sentiment toward the current proposal is taking.

Selectman Will Rodgers supported reactivating the advisory committee, and to recruit most or all of its members back to assist with the new focus.

“They are not to be blamed for not foreseeing some the difficulties that have arose in this,” he said. “Whatever the weakness or the downside of the process, we have that focus [of committee work already done.] We don’t want to substitute one mistake for another,” he said, hoping to avoid having “a process skewed by who participates.

“We don’t want to have a vocal minority dictate things,” Mr Rodgers said. “I want GE to feel good at the end of this. As long as they are ok…with taking a step back — I’m as concerned for the donor in this,” as well as for the town’s best interests.

Mrs Llodra responded saying that GE’s gift was intended to build something new that will serve the “highest and best use for the community.”

“Building new and serving a community purpose are big picture conditions,” she said, adding that ultimately, that scope and purpose are “up to the community to define.”

Turning to the issue of the pending ballot measure, Mrs Llodra told the board there is no model for transacting such a gift in the local charter. She said the lack of immediate tax implications to the expenditure of gift monies is different than spending public funds creating immediate taxation to cover new costs.

Mrs Llodra also noted that when the state gave the town $50 million for the new Sandy Hook Elementary School, selectmen decided to put that to a public referendum.

“In terms of public policy, we want to get this into the public domain,” she said. “We have this gift, but let’s take it to the voters. With no referendum, we have no opportunity to engage voters at all.”

While it is not required to ask voters to approve the spending, Mrs Llodra said, “We’re asking voters to endorse the purpose.”

The board decided it would identify 10 to 12 prospective committee members and consider several who already expressed interest in serving in order to qualify and seat that panel at the April 20 selectmen’s meeting.

Before closing the discussion, the board opened the floor to voter participation on the community center subject.

The sole resident responding was Rose West, who said she hoped the ultimate outcome would still deliver a new facility for local seniors.

Mrs Llodra responded saying the town needs to “have something for the seniors.”

“How we achieve it may have changed,” she said. “Pulling back doesn’t mean we are disregarding the seniors.”