Selectmen Rank Bridges, Roads, FFH Projects Among Top CIP Requests

By John Voket

It turned out that after nearly four hours of deliberation on possible future capital spending, the most useful tool brought to the table at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting was Paul Mangiafico’s eraser. The Republican selectman put that eraser to good use during the September 8 session as list after list of priorities and costs applied to those capital spending proposals were presented, juggled, adjusted, added, or dropped.

In the end, the board moved a little more than $80 million in town-side capital project proposals to the Board of Finance, which will take up the next step in the process of refining how taxpayer dollars will be targeted for those suggested projects going forward to the 2014 fiscal year and beyond.

With numerous department heads representing the parks and recreation, public works, police, and fire departments, the town hall board of managers, the Fairfield Hills Authority, and the local economic development commission looking on, and occasionally being called to answer questions, the selectmen set about reviewing the tens of millions of dollars in requests.

Lengthy discussion focused on issues related to Edmond Town Hall, whose operating board missed the deadline for submitting capital projects. The board of managers for the facility nonetheless came forward asking for more than a million dollars in capital improvement funds to address both critical structural, utility, and cosmetic issues member James Juliano said resulted from “a long-term lack of preventative maintenance.”

Mr Juliano apologized for turning in the capital requests late, saying some of the issues were so critical that selectmen might need to consider emergency appropriations to address the problems before the CIP funding for 2011 projects kicks in next July. Of particular concern, he said, is the masonry wall on the southern side of the structure, which permits water intrusion into the building during rain and snow storms.

The selectmen also deliberated at length about how to approach funding the Parks and Recreation Department’s new community center request. Parks & Rec officials hope to complete the center and an attached in-ground pool facility at Fairfield Hills in the coming few years (see related story).

It was the selectmen’s goal to deliver a logical package of proposals for capital spending, ranked in order of importance to help the finance board determine which projects could be afforded for bonding under the town’s ten percent debt cap, while at the same time factoring in school district capital priorities.

As the selectmen went through the projects by priority and by year, list after list was written down and erased by Mr Mangiafico until the $80 million in proposals was finalized. At one point, town Finance Director Robert Tait stopped trying to keep up adding suggestions to a spreadsheet on his laptop computer, telling the selectmen he would just wait until the final CIP was ratified.

That final document outlines as many as 11 projects per year over the next five fiscal cycles beginning in 2010, with annual bonding proposals ranging from a low of $11.6 million in 2012, to nearly $23 million in proposals in 2014.

Each year’s CIP reflects uniform requests for $1.5 million for capital road projects, the only consistent CIP item that is underwritten from the town’s general fund, versus being bonded. Each year also reflects a $2 million bonding request to fund open space acquisitions, along with requests in varying amounts for town-owned bridge replacements.

The top ticket proposal comes in that final CIP cycle with $10 million being requested to underwrite construction for a police and emergency communications center. Whether that spending will be allocated to improve the existing facility on Main Street, to improve another existing town-owned building, or to build new was not determined.

An additional $800,000 is included for the police/communication facility design in 2013.

For the first time, new bonding requests for work to improve Fairfield Hills appears in the CIP, accounting for nearly $30 million in proposals over the five-year plan. Those expenditures are primarily for demolition of former state hospital buildings not sanctioned for likely reuse.

Besides demolition, a band shell for cultural arts activities, and the related landscape construction required to accommodate audiences, appears in the 2012 CIP cycle at $3.7 million; and borrowing for utility infrastructure as well as sidewalk, roadway, and storm drain installations appears in each of the five years of the plan.

Also included in next year’s proposal is $275,000 to complete the recreational walking trail network on the campus.

Sandy Hook streetscape improvements were combined with a water main extension totaling $1.7 million in the 2010 bonding cycle. And $375,000 for an addition to the Sandy Hook fire substation near the Monroe town line on Route 34 are included in 2011.

Parks and Recreation improvements beyond the proposed community center include $750,000 for playground and water recreation facilities at Dickenson Park and $350,000 for infrastructure improvements at Treadwell Park in 2011, as well as a $450,000 in bonding request for artificial turf playing fields at Treadwell Park in 2014. And in year 1, interior renovations to the parks maintenance facility totaling $350,000 are the top ranked priority.

Phase 2 of the Economic Development Commission’s plan for a technology park is proposed in the 2012 bonding cycle for $460,000.

Bridge replacement, road projects, and the Fairfield Hills demolition and infrastructure improvements excluding the band shell are consistently ranked among the top priorities in each year of the CIP.

Mr Tait also released a copy of the school district’s proposed CIP this week, which totals nearly $38 million in proposed bonding for projects including roof replacements at the middle school ($3.5 million); expansion an updates at the middle school ($14 million); high school auditorium renovations ($1.4 million); Hawley School HVAC renovations ($7.6 million); and purchase of a Church Hill Road property adjacent to Hawley School to expand parking ($400,000).