Dunn, Belden running again for selectmen positions

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD -- First Selectmen Steve Dunn and Other Selectman Bob Belden, who have touted their business acumen, say that if they are re-elected this fall they will continue to take steps to expand police facilities and build a community center at the former Center Elementary School (CES).

In a news release, Dunn, a Democrat who who has lived in Brookfield since 1983, stated, "During our first term together, we launched initiatives to explore a new police station and a new community center. Both projects will take time to collect public input and gather all the information needed to bring these projects to a vote."

Belden said in a recent interview with Patch.com that he hopes that the ad-hoc committee for the police facilities and the panel studying the Center Elementary School site will have price tags for their respective projects before there is any consideration of a referendum. He said residents should know the costs of each project before the first referendum is held.

Dunn and Belden have said that the police facilities are the higher priority. Dunn has said the current police headquarters on Silvermine Road, which opened in the 1980s, doesn't meet federal standards.

The ad-hoc committee is studying whether to expand the current facility or build a new headquarters at another site.

The ad-hoc committee for the former Center Elementary School provided the Board of Selectmen with a progress report. Committee Chairman Bob Zinser said no decision had been made regarding whether the best option would be to restructure, renovate or demolish the former school. The panel is currently doing a structural and environmental review of the facilities.

CES was the last wooden school in Connecticut. An earlier ad-hoc committee reported that residents were interested in moving the library to the former school, sponsoring Parks & Recreation programs and establishing community rooms.

Dunn is a former vice president with J.P. Morgan Chase and Belden was a finance vice president with IBM.

In the news release, they stated that they also want to work with residents on effectively updating the municipal Plan of Conservation & Development.

The news release on their re-election plans state that Dunn, a Democrat, served as first selectman from 2015 to 2021, lost the 2021 election and then served from 2021 to 2023 as an Other Selectman. He captured a non-consecutive fourth term in 2023 over incumbent Republican Tara Carr, who is now an Other Selectman.

Belden, a former Republican who has been an unaffiliated voter for more than four years, has been chairman of both the Board of Education and the Board of Finance.

Zoning Board of Appeals Vice Chairman Karl Hinger announced his bid this winter for the Republican nomination for first selectman.

He told Patch.com that Dunn is "great at being the chief administrator" but is "lacking" in "community engagement." Hinger said that, for example, New Milford Mayor Pete Bass has demonstrated "town patriotism" and "is very active on social media."

Hinger said that Carr also was active on the social media while serving as first selectman and did "a great job" at handling constituent service.

Hinger will formally launch his campaign with a social event on Tuesday night, March 25, at The Cafe at 802 Federal Road.

In 2023 Carr had to defeat former Board of Education Chairman Matt Grimes in a primary to annex the GOP nomination.

Grimes said in a phone interview with Patch.com that he has not decided on whether he will be running for a municipal office in 2025, but would likely make a decision in the near future.