Brookfield hires new financial advisory team

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – Town Treasurer John Lucas said ultimately the recent unanimous vote by the Board of Selectmen to hire a new bond counsel and a new financial advisor was largely determined by the feedback that First Selectman Steve Dunn received from other municipal chief elected officials.

After receiving four requests for proposal for each of the services, the three-member Board of Selectmen decided in October to hire the law firm of Pullman & Comley as its bond counsel and Phoenix Advisors of Milford as the municipal financial advisor.

Dunn said at the October Board of Selectmen’s meeting that he had spoken to several first selectmen and mayors to gauge the performance of the firms that had applied to Brookfield.

Lucas and Dunn have said they were happy with the work of attorney Laurie Hall of Hartford, who had been the bond counsel for many years and the performance of Hilltop Advisors in Rocky Hill, which had been the financial advisor dating to the tenure of former Town Treasurer David Scribner, who served from 1996 to 2016.

However, Dunn told Brookfield Patch recently that he believes periodically the municipal government should see what is available for professional services and determine if it wants to make a change.

Earlier this fall, Lucas said, “It’s the prudent thing to do every four to five years.”

Dunn told Brookfield Patch this fall that if he is elected to a third term on November 5 the three-member Board of Selectmen will be seeking requests for proposal later this fall for a town counsel Danbury attorney Thomas Beecher has been the town counsel for six consecutive years under Dunn and his immediate predecessor, Republican Bill Tinsley.

Along with former Brookfield resident and former state House Speaker Fran Collins, Beecher also was the town counsel from 2003 to 2009 under former Republican First Selectman Jerry Murphy and former Independent First Selectman Bob Silvaggi.

Lucas said a municipal financial advisor, among other things, keeps the town officials apprised of market trends and reviews the municipal financial portfolio.

He said at Phoenix Advisors, which has offices in Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Matthew Spoerndle will be the principal consultant for Brookfield.

Phoenix Advisors has reported that it currently is handling 1,764 government transactions, with a combined value of $20.4 billion. The company has offices in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

Lucas said attorney Sandra Dawson, who is based in Hartford, will be the principal bond counsel through Pullman & Comley, which also has Connecticut offices in Bridgeport, Stamford, Waterbury and Westport.

Lucas said that he and Marcia Marien, the town controller, have been “surprised at how quickly they have been able to pick up the ball.”

He said, in particular, Dawson has been in contact regularly about $5.3 million in bond activity that will be occurring in November to address capital projects from the last fiscal year and the current fiscal year.

A bond counsel principally assists municipalities in managing their long-term debt.

Lucas added, “We’ve been very impressed so far, particularly with the attention to detail” that Pullman & Comley has provided.