Politics & Government
Carr says town should 'evaluate' pay boost for municipal staff
First selectman, who has caucus endorsement in September 12 GOP primary, adds that further development is 'contingent' on sewer capacity
By Scott Benjamin
BROOKFIELD – Tara Carr says that since she “parachuted” into the Brookfield first selectman’s office nearly 21 months ago “there have been a lot of moving parts.”
Carr - who served in the U.S. Army for 25 years, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel - said she has had to fill 11 senior-level director positions.
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Among them, a new police chief, two land-use directors, an executive assistant to the first selectman, a sanitarian and a fire marshal.
“To attract talent you have to find that talent, and that has been very difficult,” Carr remarked in an interview with Patch.com.
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For example, she said that it was “hard to” find a new sanitarian because “there is a shortage for these skill sets across the state."
Additionally, Carr said for many of the “other towns are paying so much more” for their senior-level positions.
“That is where the whole compensation issue comes into question,” she commented. “It is time to evaluate how we’re compensating our staff who are working hard for the town to deliver those goods and services.”
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“Intelligence is one thing,” said Carr. “It is more about finding qualified candidates. For every role it is a little bit different. For example, the fire marshal. You don’t need to have a college degree to be a fire marshal. I don’t know that that even exists. But you have to have the qualifications in your CV so that you are the best candidate for the job.”
Carr, who was initially elected in 2021 and was endorsed in July at the Republican Party caucus, faces former Board of Education Chairman Matt Grimes in the September 12 primary.
She said she disagrees with Grimes’s criticism that her lack of previous municipal experience has hindered her.
“I don’t think that is a prerequisite for doing a good job in this position,” Carr commented. “I really haven’t heard that much negative” about my performance. “I’m equating that with success.”
Carr said that in addition to finding qualified candidates for current positions, there also are some important jobs that don’t exist.
“I don’t have a chief of staff, a grants writer a P.R [public relations] person,” she explained. “It is literally me now. I’m clearly the staff.”
Remarked Carr, “I think Brookfield is at a tipping point of being a very different town than we were even five or 10 years ago I think they say the 20,000 population mark is the threshold. [The population as of 2020 was 17,528, according to Wikipedia]. I do like the idea of a town-manager form of government. You’ve got your operational person and his permanent staff and an elected mayor. I think that would be interesting for Brookfield.”
“I think we’re getting close to the point where we need to re-examine how we’re doing things, because what is happening from my perspective is a very antiquated system, and you can get bogged down. It is hard to move things along,” she added. “I think we’re pretty close, and I would definitely look at other models across the state to see what that would look like.”
More than a decade ago, Democratic former First Selectman Bill Davidson endorsed a town-manager form of government that was recommended by a Charter Revision Commission. The proposal was soundly rejected by voters at referendum in November 2012.
Democratic Other Selectman Steve Dunn, who was first selectman from 2015 to 2021 and has his party’s nomination for first selectman this year, told Patch.com in interviews during his administration that he wasn’t prepared to propose a town manager system, noting in a 2016 interview that residents "are comfortable" with the current town meeting system.
However, Dunn said there are 'merits" to be made for a town manager. Dunn said that a town manager could focus on implementing policies after the elected officials and the voters had determined what the policies should be. However, he added that the job would probably require a higher salary than what is paid to a first selectman and that town managers sometimes become “entrenched” in their jobs.
Carr also said it might be better to have a four-year term for first selectman.
She exclaimed, “Two years is fast for the voters, for the electees, for the town committees.”
On another issue, Dunn told Patch.com in 2021 that he believed that the commercial part of the grand list could grow from 16 percent up to 20 percent in five years with development in Brookfield Town Center and the Berkshire Corporate Park.
Carr cautioned that Brookfield faces potential obstacles.
“I think when we talk about development and inviting businesses into Brookfield, it is contingent on the resources and the major resource being sewers,” she explained. “So there is a lot of development that is scheduled and is ready to go, but they don’t have the [sewer] capacity.”
She said that there are projects on Laurel Hill Road and Federal Road that are in that category.
“You need to have the infrastructure in place,” commented Carr. “Brookfield doesn’t have that right now. . . [It is about] Danbury being able to accept our flow. We’re stuck in a holding pattern for now.”
On another topic, Carr said that in conjunction with the Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy, based in Kent, the town was able to acquire a $325,000 state grant to place the 45.31-acres Ledges Preserve at 16 Dunsinane Road into open space perpetuity.
Grimes recently told Patch.com that taxes have been the most discussed issue among voters. He said they say that if the state has reduced income tax rates for the middle class and lower class, then why can’t Brookfield trim its rate of increase on property taxes.
The tax mill rate increased 3.786 percent for the fiscal year that started on July 1.
Carr said, “People in Brookfield are unhappy.”
She noted that there was a “revaluation [of property values] my first two months in office.”
“If you’re living on the lake or you have a view and you have access to the water your taxes could have gone up 30 percent,” Carr commented.
“I did try to make cuts across the board on both the school and the town operational budget,” she said. “But how do you balance that out with the crazy inflation that we’ve not seen in many, many years.”
Grimes recently said that, if elected, he would lower operating costs in the town government budget, suggesting that it could result in layoffs of municipal employees similar to the ones that New Milford Mayor Pete Bass made when there was high debt and less state assistance in that neighboring town.
Carr remarked, “That is going to be a very hard thing for him to do.”
Regarding the town's fiscal portfolio, in an e-mail message to Patch.com Town Treasurer John Lucas, a Democrat who is seeking election this fall for a third term, stated that the town has an AAA bond rating – the highest possible - from Standard & Poor’s, which is the same level it was at when Dunn left office in late 2021.
The fund balance is at 15.59 percent. Lucas has indicated that the rating agencies recommend a fund balance of 15 to 18 percent to earn an AAA rating.
The pensions for the municipal employees are 102.5 percent funded. Through the years municipal officials have said anything above 80 percent is considered excellent.
All three candidates for first selectman have endorsed either remodeling the current police headquarters at Silvermine Road or building a new facility. They say the current headquarters, which opened in the mid-1980s, has become outdated.
Grimes has complained that there has been discussion since at least the 2017 municipal campaign about addressing the issue without any plan being presented to the voters.
Carr and Dunn have said that due to debt from the renovations to Brookfield High School, which were completed in 2009, and the debt that recently began for the new Candlewood Lake Elementary School the town will probably have to wait until 2026 to consider bond plans for police facilities.
Grimes said recently that, if elected, he would have a plan to the voters for consideration at referendum in November 2024.
Carr commented, “I think there still is a lot of work to still be done. It would be pretty tight.”
She said that she is currently going over estimates with Police Chief John Puglisi for either a remodeled headquarters or a new one. Those are being updated from the figures provided some time ago by the former chief, Jay Purcell.
Carr said there also may be revisions in the plans depending on whether the local police will need to build a firing range or if a regional firing range is developed.
On a separate subject, Carr said that Brookfield is “in a very good place” on maintaining its roads.
Under Davidson the town started placing more money in the budget each year for road repairs and through subsequent administrations a larger share was placed in the operating budget and less in bonding. Carr said that it is now all paid for in the operating budget.
On another topic, in phone interviews with Patch.com in June, state Sen. Stephen Harding (R-30) and Austin Monteiro, a former candidate for first selectman who is running this year as a Republican for a seat on the Board of Education, praised Carr’s constituent service.
Said Carr, “The undertone here is that I’m not a politician.”
Brookfield Republican former First Selectman Bonnie Smith once said that some people are very appreciative just to know that someone is listening.
Commented Carr, “Not just listening, but taking into consideration what they’re saying.”
Monteiro said, “She also has kept residents informed about municipal events and issues through the social media. She is at events meeting residents.”
During her Army career, Carr earned a bachelor’s degree in International Relations at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and master’s degree in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School and Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma.
At Syracuse, Carr completed a study abroad program in Hong Kong, which increased her “appetite” for the Far East, and she later did an internship in Washington, which “set the stage for how government operates.”
She and her husband, who is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, plan to go to the Carrier Dome on September 23 for the Syracuse-Army football game.
Which elected officials – past or present – does Carr most admire?
At the federal level, she listed U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN). Carr’s husband and Green were in the same graduating class at West Point and are longtime friends.
“I admire his style and determination,” she explained.
Also, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who she credits with “wrapping her arms around moving things along for women in uniform.”
At the state and municipal level, Carr cited Harding, state Rep. Marty Foncello (R-107) of Brookfield, and two Republican mayors - New Milford’s Bass and Danbury’s Dean Esposito.
Harding and Foncello have endorsed her in the primary.
Other Selectman Harry Shaker, who was Carr’s running mate two years ago, is running on Grimes’ ticket in the primary. Joseph Rondini, a detective first class with the Greenwich Police Department, is running on the Republican-endorsed ticket for one of the other seats on the Board of Selectmen. Carr predicted that Rondini would bring “a fresh perspective” to municipal government.
Monteiro said, “The reunification of the Republican Party is going to be the biggest hurdle to winning in November. If we can unite after the primary we could be unbeatable for many years. We have new people on our ticket, which is great. We have young people, which is terrific.”
In a 2020 interview with Patch.com, Democratic former two-time gubernatorial candidate Bill Curry of Farmington praised President Joe Biden as he was about to clinch the nomination for reaching out and incorporating positions from his former rivals in his own speeches.
Curry said that Biden understood that the victor should reach out to the vanquished.
If Carr wins the nomination, would she take that step with Grimes a day or two after the primary and try to bring him into the fold?
“That is not something that I have considered,” she said. “They say that birds of a feather flock together, and I don’t think he is someone I’d like to associate with.”
Resources:
Interview with Tara Carr, Patch.com, on Monday, August 21, 2023.
Phone interview with Austin Monteiro, Patch.com, on Thursday, August 17, 2023.
E-mail message from John Lucas, Patch.com, on Thursday, August 17, 2023.
