Dunn: Constructive dialogue has replaced cranky civic discourse

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – “It is noted for having a cranky civic discourse.”

In 2001 that is how then-U.S. Rep. Jim Maloney (D-5), who lives in
neighboring Danbury, referred to Brookfield’s municipal dialogue.

Shortly after the 2013 municipal election, Colin McEnroe wrote a Hartford Courant column headlined: “Bucolic Brookfield Reveals Seamy Sides” and stated that Brookfield was in the running for “most dysfunctional” town in Connecticut.

His points included that First Selectman-elect Bill Tinsley faced charges, which Tinsley had called “frivolous,” regarding taking receipts from a Vermont liquor store. Tinsley also had declared for bankruptcy. Tinsley shortly later offered a plea of no contest to the charges, telling The News-Times of Danbury that he took that step as a “financial decision.”

During the 2015 municipal election campaign, Steve Dunn, the Democratic candidate for first selectman, posted lawn signs that stated, “Restore Integrity.”

He also complained at a debate about how A Brookfield Party, a recently established political organization, had become an arm of the Republican Party in an effort to keep the Democrats from winning seats on municipal boards through the state minority representation statutes.

“People have been saying there is something wrong in this town,” Dunn said at the time about A Brookfield Party.

After easily getting elected, Dunn said the town needed to become more unified.

“I think [the rancor] is about completely gone,” the first selectman said in a recent interview - three and a half years into his administration.

Shortly after taking office, he held a joint meeting of the Board of Finance, Board of Selectmen and Board of Education.

“That hadn’t happened in years,” Dunn said.

Danbury attorney Thomas Beecher, who had been the town counsel under three previous administrations, including two Republican first selectmen, was retained. Even though some Democrats protested, the Republican Town Committee Chairman at the time, Greg Dembowski, became the point person for the engineering review in the emerging 198-acre Brookfield Town Center.

“We’ve taken the partisan politics out of running the town,” said Dunn, who retired six years ago as a vice president at J.P. Morgan Chase.

Dunn, who is expected to win nomination for a third term at the Democratic caucus July 16, said that on a recent Friday night during the weekly concert at the bandstand he spent 30 minutes talking “about what is going on in town” with Economic Development Commission member Mel Butow, who likely will be nominated for first selectman at the Republican caucus on July 16.

This appears to be quite different than the period from 1994 to 2009 when there often were two factions within the Republican Party engaged in a tug of war that resembled the Hafields vs the McCoys. However, even with the GOP squabbling, the Democrats went from 1985 until 2009 without winning an election for first selectman.

Dunn said during his first four months in office he received 50 Freedom of Information requests.

“I haven’t gotten one in over a year,” he said. “We’ve been open and transparent.”

Dunn said continued economic development, the construction of the new $78.1 million Huckleberry Hill Elementary School (HHES) and keeping tax increases low will be the prime goals if he garners a third term in the November 5 municipal election. The current budget carried a 2.87 percent tax hike.

He said that over time he believes the commercial portion of Brookfield’s grand list – the log of taxable properties – could grow from the current 16 percent to at least 20 percent.

Branson Ultrasonics will be building a $53 million structure at the 75-acre Brookfield tract at Berkshire Corporate Park. Construction has begun on a medical building on the 39-acre corn field along Junction Road. The second phase of the Brookfield Town Center streetscape is being installed and it appears that a supermarket will be built in that New England-style central business district.

Dunn said the town has benefited from the work of Treasurer John Lucas, a Democrat who was elected in 2015. He said Lucas, a certified accountant, has provided valuable insight.

“He doesn’t just come and sign things when we ask him to,” said Dunn. “He’s at the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance meetings and knows the intricacies of the town’s finances.”

Privately, some former municipal officials had complained that Republican David Scribner, who was the town treasurer from early 1996 to early 2016, immediately preceding Lucas, was not as conscientious about attending municipal meetings.

Scribner, who had been an administrator at Union Trust and Danbury Savings & Loan and did private financial analysis for clients, also served as the state representative from the 107^th District from March 1999 to January 2015. Over a 20-year span he captured more elections and garnered more votes than anyone in town and was noted for his bipartisanship.

Brookfield has recently received an AAA bond rating from Standard & Poor’s and was upgraded recently from AA2 with a negative outlook to AA2 by Moody’s.

Scribner, who now is one of the three members on the state Liquor Control Commission, had recommended in early 1996 that municipal officials should seek at least a 7.5 percent fund balance. That policy produced three bond rating upgrades in 18 months, reaching AA2 in the summer 1997. About 13 years later it was upgraded to AA1 and was even boosted by Fitch to AAA in the fall 2013.

However, Dunn said that in recent years “the playing field has changed.”

He said the rating agencies are recommending municipalities try to build their fund balance to at least 15 percent. The first selectman said Brookfield’s fund balance is at 10.34 percent. He said some of the rating agencies now don’t consider a 10 percent fund balance is enough to earn an AA1 rating – one step down from AAA. Less than a generation ago a 7.5 percent fund balance might have gotten you an A1 rating.

Dunn said that although many millennials are moving to the large innovation hubs, such as the Route 128 corridor near Boston, and Connecticut often is less appealing because of its suburban character, he believes that Brookfield is already attracting young families.

He noted that on July 1, the Board of Selectmen unanimously approved funding for an additional kindergarten teacher at Center Elementary School since there were 24 more students enrolled than had been projected.

MSN.com reported in June that per capita the New Haven-Milford metro area had attracted the second most number of millennials in the last year and the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metro area ranked 29^th.

Patch.com has reported that state Department of Economic & Community Development Commissioner David Lehman of Greenwich has said he believes that “structurally” Connecticut’s suburban character is one of the biggest challenges the state faces in growing its economy. He has said that Connecticut can compete if it can provide lower cost structures than in New York City and Boston.

Dunn said a number of millennials are moving to West Hartford and Darien because they have good schools, a reasonable commute, safe neighborhoods, recreation facilities and a vibrant downtown.

The first selectman said Brookfield has all of those things except a vibrant downtown, but that will become a reality soon as the final phases of the 198-acre Brookfield Town Center are developed.

The second installment of the streetscape began in June and it appears a supermarket will be built near the Still River Greenway, which has become a recreation attraction since it opened in November 2016.

Dunn said at least 75 percent of the streetscape that has been installed has been paid for through grants.

However, former Republican First Selectman Marty Foncello has said that part of what attracted him to Brookfield is that he initially drove into town on Whisconier Road and saw Happy Landings Farm and the quiet residential neighborhoods.

“We have to balance bringing in commercial development for Brookfield and keeping the rural atmosphere,” Dunn explained.

Regarding the new HHES, which was ratified at referendum in March, Dunn and state Rep. Stephen Harding (R-107) of Brookfield have each said that they are optimistic that the state Department of Administrative Services will probably put the town’s proposed 22.5 percent grant on its list in December and it will then be considered by the state Bond Commission. The grant would reduce the municipal costs for the project to $63.3 million.

Since his first term, Dunn said that over time the town could bond for the new HHES, which will house students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, expand the Police headquarters on Silvermine Road and renovate or construct a new library.

However, he said municipal officials should be patient about embarking on the police headquarters or library projects.

“I don’t think that we should do any mass development for at least three years until we know how much the school is going to cost,” Dunn said.

“We need to see what kind of funding we will get from the state and how it will fit in our budget,” the first selectman added.

However, Dunn said he is less confident about acquiring other state grants in the future since Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) announced earlier this year that Connecticut is on a “debt diet.”

He noted that Brookfield state assistance has declined each of his four years in office and that he expects state officials to continue to seek to get the municipalities to pay part of the pensions for the public school teachers, which the state has paid for since 1939.

Dunn acknowledged that even though state Comptroller Kevin Lembo (D-Guilford) has said the state had a $770 million budget surplus for the fiscal year that ended in June, it still faces $32 billion in unfunded pension obligations.

He said he was disappointed that the General Assembly and Lamont voted to stretch some of them out, which will place greater burdens on future generations.

“The pension crisis is reaching a point where we can no longer ignore it,” said Dunn. “It has been pushed to the back burner for the last 30 years.”

Brookfield Patch has reported that CT Mirror budget reporter Keith Phaneuf said about 85 percent of the current state employee fringe benefit costs are due to the forfeiture of funds over generations. He has noted that no money was set aside for pensions for the state employees or the teachers from 1939 to 1971 and very little between 1971 and the mid-1980s.

“However, transferring that responsibility to you Steve Dunn as first selectman of Brookfield is not right either,” said Dunn.

“I think Gov. Malloy did begin that process” of addressing the pension crisis, Dunn said of Dannel Malloy’s (D-Essex) decision to fully fund the pension obligations each of his eight years in office and obtain a less-expensive system in the 2017 agreement for the future state employees.

No Brookfield first selectman has served at least three terms since Republican Bonnie Smith, who was in office for six terms, was defeated in 1999.

Dunn insists that instead of a cranky civic discourse, municipal officials in bucolic Brookfield now speak to each other with courtesy.

Even six years ago when there still was rancor, Money magazine ranked the town as the 26^th best place to live in the United States.

Just think of how many millennials you could add once you build a walkable downtown.