Dunn anticipates police headquarters will remain on municipal campus

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – Residents went to referendum in January 1981, voted in favor of buying the Ptak parcel and about two years later wondered why a municipality of about 13,000 people had a town hall so large.

“People thought it was a Taj Mahal,” Bonnie Smith said many years later.

In 1987 she was elected first selectman and occupied the prime second-floor office for 12 years.

But Smith said over time every space of the building was occupied.

Perhaps it is the crowning achievement of former Republican First Selectman Bud Brown’s six-year tenure.

It is where the Board of Education has had its offices since the building opened in 1983.

The Parks & Recreation Department moved years ago to the former town hall on Whisconier Road so it would have adequate space.

There are athletic fields on the parcel, the Kids Kingdom playground and a bandstand where the summer concerts are held on Friday nights. Residents utilize the parking area before walking along the Still River Greenway.

And not long after the town hall was completed on the municipal campus on Pocono Road a police headquarters was built on the section facing Silvermine Road. In 1977 Brookfield went from a law enforcement agency with a resident state trooper as the leader to become a formally organized department. The headquarters was on Grays Bridge Road. More space was needed.

Since at least the 2017 campaign for first selectman, candidates have said that the current headquarters no longer conforms to federal regulations and police facilities need to be expanded.

The Board of Selectmen appointed an ad-hoc committee and last summer the chairman, former Police Chief Jay Purcell, told them that his panel was looking at options on and off the municipal campus.

The ad-hoc committee plans to announce a recommendation in June, and Democratic First Selectman Steve Dunn said he thinks the panel will recommend keeping the headquarters on the municipal campus.

Dunn said the selectmen asked the panel to consider other sites.

He indicated that he would oppose building a new headquarters at the former Center Elementary School (CES) on Obtuse Hill Road/Route 133, since there are multiple intersections near there that would delay police officers from responding promptly to accidents and service calls.

Dunn said the panel has looked at other available parcels in town, but added, “it would be very expensive” to purchase new property, particularly along the Federal Road commercial corridor.

In an interview with Patch.com, Dunn said, “I’m not in favor of moving off the municipal campus.”

He said the ad-hoc committee is currently reviewing design and cost estimates.

Dunn added, “I think [the ad-hoc committee is] narrowing it down to the municipal campus. I think they’re concentrating and distilling their thoughts, and I think they’re going to end up with a rehab of the police station on town hall property.”

He said with the $535,000 purchase six years ago of a “two-acre” parcel on a corner of the municipal campus, the police facilities at the current headquarters could be expanded without eliminating any athletic fields.

Matt Grimes, a member of the ad-hoc committee and a candidate for the Republican nomination for first selectman in 2023, criticized Dunn for indicating before the panel makes it recommendation, that it is probable that the expanded police facilities would be built on the municipal campus.

In an e-mail statement to Patch.com, he wrote, "As a member of the Police Building Ad hoc committee, I take STRONG exception to the First Selectman telling people where the proposed police headquarters will go. His comments in this article completely seeks to undermine the work of the bipartisan ad hoc committee JUST as we are about the get public input on THREE sites (NONE of which has an advantage over the other at this point)."

Grimes added, "Mr. Dunn’s comments are GROSSLY UNFAIR to this process and totally inappropriate. How he can say he thinks our committee will recommend the municipal center at this point implies that he has already made a decision that isn’t his to make. Of course, if he had prioritized the Police Department - like he said he would do in 2017, we would not be where we are nine years later. "

Dunn said the ad-hoc committee will hold public input sessions this spring and after the selectmen get a recommendation, his goal would be to eventually get the referendum question on the November 3 election, where there should be a large turnout of voters casting ballots for governor and other offices.

The first selectman has said that the town is in a position to pay for expanded police facilities since the final bond payments will be made this year for the renovation of Brookfield High School, which was approved at referendum in April 2003.

A separate ad-hoc committee, chaired by longtime civic volunteer Bob Zinser, is studying how to best utilize CES, which closed in 2023 when Candlewood Lake Elementary School opened.

There has been discussion on moving the library to that site, as well as renovating the former school into meeting rooms and Parks & Recreation facilities. A structural designer is currently reviewing options.

However, Dunn and selectmen Karl Hinger and Bob Belden have each said that the police facilities should be the town’s top construction priority.