​Democrats nominate Dunn for a sixth consecutive time

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – Following a Democratic caucus that was shorter than a jog along the Still River Greenway, First Selectman Steve Dunn said locally his party faces a critical election in which it needs to defend the values of “honesty” and “civility” that are being destroyed “at the national level.”

Through acclamation, Dunn was nominated for the sixth consecutive municipal election cycle for first selectman – a job that now pays about $125,000 annually.

In his acceptance speech in the party ‘s permanent headquarters at 499 Federal Road, Dunn urged local Democrats to “knock on doors” and counteract what is happening nationally, “where people are not working together and not being civil with each other.”

After the caucus, which lasted 13 minutes, Democratic Town Committee Chairman Shannon Riley said that issues at the national level are “going haywire,” but the slate that the Democrats nominated “are people who love Brookfield.”

Dunn and unaffiliated voter Bob Belden, who was nominated for a second term as one of the Other Selectmen on the three-member board, have underscored that expanding police facilities and determining what to do at the site of the former Center Elementary School (CES) will be the top priorities if they prevail in the November 4 election.

Dunn has said that the town could not embark on those projects until at least 2026 when the bond authorizations are fully paid for the renovations to Brookfield High Scholl. That project was approved at referendum in 2003.

Jay Purcell, the former police chief and now the chairman of the Police Facilities ad-hoc committee, recently said that his panel should have a recommendation nest June on whether to expand the current police headquarters on Silvermine Road, build a new headquarters on another section of the municipal campus or build a new headquarters on another parcel.

The current headquarters opened in the 1980s and no longer conforms with federal law enforcement standards.

A separate ad-hoc committee is currently doing a structural review on Center Elementary School to determine if the building should be renovated or demolished so a new structure could be built.

Regarding the costs for expanded police facilities, Dunn said, “We don’t have an exact number.”

He added, “As reference, I can say Wilton just built a new police station for 60 people for $18 million. Newtown built a police station [in 2020 in an existing structure] for $15 million. I think somewhere in that range is what it would be for a police station.”

Dunn said based on the preliminary information, he doesn’t know what the costs would be for a community center, if it is built at the former CES site.

He did say, “I don’t think it would be as much” as the cost for a police headquarters. Thus, the cost for the two projects combined would probably be in the “30 million range.”

In 2019, voters approved $78.1 million to build Candlewood Lake Elementary School, which opened in 2023.

Dunn and Belden have underscored that the police facilities should be addressed first, but that the final price tags for each of the projects should be finalized before either goes to referendum.

Dunn said the municipal debt level is currently nine percent of spending and it should stay below 10 percent in the future.

On another topic, Dunn said Brookfield’s 4.31 spending increase for the budget that took effect July 1 was lower than surrounding towns.

“Much of it is due to good planning,” he commented.

As for other future priorities, Dunn said he hopes that the selectmen “formalize” the Capital Committee, an ad-hoc panel that has been operating for seven years and helps develop a “10-year plan” for the capital projects.

He said before the end of the current term this fall, he believers the selectmen can hold a public hearing and then establish a Fire Commission. That panel would have a representative from each of the two fire companies – Candlewood and Headquarters – as well as three additional members.

Dunn said the Fire Commission would be “an advocate” for the fire companies.

“It would not tell them what to do, but would help with their policies,” he explained.

Karl Hinger, who was nominated for first selectman at the Republican caucus, has been critical of the large multi-family apartment buildings that have been constructed in recent years in the 198-acres Brookfield Town Center central business district near the Four Corners intersection of Federal Road.

Dunn and Hinger both said that in Brookfield and elsewhere there doesn’t appear to be enough homes constructed for first-time buyers.

Wall Street Journal columnist William Galston recently wrote that in 2024 the median age for a first-time home buyer was 38.

Remarked Dunn, “What builders are doing: There is a limited supply of land and they’re putting the biggest house they can on every single property and maximizing their profits. That’s what developers do.”

He added, “The problem is our entry-level home here in Connecticut is somewhere north of $400,000 now. That’ is really hard for first-time buyers to afford.”

Dunn commented that a generation ago there were more smaller homes being built.

“In the [Candlewood] Shores area and Main Drive [in Brookfield]: Those homes [built a generation ago] are 1,600-, 1,700-, 1,800-square feet. In the last 10, 12 years, they’ve been 3,500 square feet,” he remarked.

On the campaign, Dunn said the local Democrats raised about $27,000 when he was elected to a non-consecutive fourth term. He had served as first selectmen from 2015 to 2021 and then as an Other Selectman from 2021-2023 after he lost to Republican Tara Carr in the 2021 election.

He said the party would probably raise a similar amount during the current campaign.

“We’re going to start knocking on doors shortly,” Dunn commented.

However, he said that the Internet is becoming more important.

“Fewer people are home to answer their doors,” Dunn explained. “You have to find ways to reach people. Social media, Facebook, text message in short, quick messages. That’s what we’re going to do.”