Dunn declares cooperation has improved over his tenure

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – Six years after he embarked on his initial campaign, First Selectman Steve Dunn says relations have improved between municipal and school officials following an era of turbulence.

Dunn told Brookfield Patch in November 2015 shortly after he defeated first-term Republican Bill Tinsley by a nearly 2-1 margin of victory that was partly due to voters’ reaction to the tactics of A Brookfield Party. That political outlet emerged in the early 2010s and ran candidates in several instances that were cross-endorsed by the Brookfield Republican Party.

At the time, he said, in effect, there were six Republicans serving on the Board of Finance which resulted in a lack of concern for people seeking more spending for the school district.

At the Brookfield Chamber of Commerce debate in October 2015, Dunn said he was supportive of a third party – such as the Green Party – becoming established in Brookfield, but many residents had told him there was “something wrong” about how A Brookfield Party functioned in an apparent attempt to effectively thwart minority representation on municipal boards and commissions.

"There were people who felt that they were not listened to by their elected officials," Dunn told Brookfield Patch in November 2015.

Over Tinsley’s tenure, there even was a Take Back Brookfield Facebook page, which was established, in part, because of concerns over a lack of funding for the schools.

During a recent interview, Dunn reflected, “There was a time when the Board of Finance would not talk to the Board of Education.”

In a phone interview state Rep. Stephen Harding (R-107) of Brookfield, who served on the Board of Education from 2013 to 2017, said, “The boards and commissions in the recent years have worked together cohesively, which is the way it should be.”

Dunn said during the recent budget deliberations, “The Board of Finance has pretty much kept the Board of Selectmen’s budget as is” and even added money to what the Board of Selectmen had approved for the Board of Education budget.

The overall $69,370,598 package would increase the tax mill rate by 1.52 percent for the fiscal year that will start on July 1. The proposed budget will go to the annual town meeting on May 4 and tentatively to referendum on May 18.

Dunn said the tax increases is meager in response to the pandemic, yet the proposed package “still protects the town if there are any future emergencies.”

He said under the federal government’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, Brookfield is slated to receive $1.6 million in funding for town government services and $800,000 to the school district. He indicated that the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to determine by May 11 the national guidelines for utilizing the funds.

Dunn, a Democrat, said that he also has had an “excellent relationship” with each of the three other selectmen that he has served with – Republican Harry Shaker, a former longtime Board of Education member and the GOP candidate for first selectman in 2017, Democrat Sue Slater, who has been Dunn’s running mate in the last three municipal elections, and former selectman Marty Flynn, a Republican, who has served in a variety of municipal and political roles since 2003.

Harding said, “The disagreements on the Board of Selectmen have been rare, and when they happen everyone is treated with respect, including Selectman Shaker.”

Dunn explained, “You always can find common ground. Sue [Slater] has voted against me. There are things that we have disagreed on. That is good, because it demonstrates the democratic process. You are not going to get everything that you want.”

At times over the last generation, Brookfield has been noted for having contentious municipal relations. In 2001, former U.S. Rep. Jim Maloney (D-5) of Danbury, whose district included the town, said Brookfield often had engaged in “a cranky civic discourse.”

Dunn also recalled that when he arrived in office in late 2015 the school district was encountering “turmoil” after during the previous administration Art Colley, the business manager, was sentenced for stealing $100,000 in school funds. That action ultimately resulted in the dismissal in 2014 of Superintendent of Schools Anthony Bivona, who had been in the position since 2007. Bivona subsequently filed legal action against the school district and the Board of Education reached a settlement with him before the case went to trial.

Dunn, who served as a vice president for J.P. Morgan Chase, told Patch.com in June 2015 that the school district was under a “magnifying glass”

In the recent interview, the first selectman praised Superintendent of Schools John Barile, who took the position about six months before Dunn took office.

Said Dunn, “He has done a good job.”

The first selectman said he has not decided whether he will seek a fourth term. Democrats have captured five of the last six races for first selectman. Republicans had captured every contest from 1987 through 2005.

Dunn said that he is pleased that about “80 percent” of the Democratic candidates who were elected during his initial victory in 2015 ran and were elected to a second term in either 2017 or 2019. He said he is impressed that the Democrats, who did not win any elections for first selectmen between 1985 and 2009, have found a number of capable candidates to fill vacancies on boards and commissions during his tenure.

The metro Danbury labor market, which includes Brookfield, was the only one of the nine labor markets in Connecticut that within less than a decade recaptured all of the jobs lost from the 2008 Great Recession.

However, from February 2020, the month before the pandemic began, and February 2021 it has experienced an 8.8 percent loss of jobs – 6,800 positions – which is the second worst performance in the state.

“There have been short-term obstacles, but you see that the [metro Danbury labor market] has economic development and manufacturing, so I do think there the long-term outlook is still relatively sanguine,” said economist Donald Klepper-Smith of DataCore Partners, who has delivered the keynote address during recent years at the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce Economic Forecast breakfast and served as chairman of the economic team for former Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R-Brookfield).

Brookfield has an AAA bond rating –the highest attainable - from Standard & Poor’s and an A2 rating from Moody’s Investor Services. Dunn said the municipal fund balance is at about 12 percent and should continue to grow over the coming months. Usually a fund balance of about 15 percent will ensure getting an AAA designation from each of the three rating agencies.

Dunn said the Brookfield housing market has been particularly active during the pandemic with home values climbing.

“If you have a house with a pool in Brookfield you can sell it the day that you put it on the market,” he related. “There are bidding wars for houses. People are thinking long-term and want to be in a suburban town like Brookfield.”

Dunn said he opposes the proposed state mansion tax in which homes valued at $430,000 or more would see have their property taxes increased by one mill so that money would be redistributed to cities and towns that are struggling.

The first selectman said half of the houses in Brookfield would be at or above that threshold.

On another subject, Dunn said he supports the proposal by Connecticut business leaders who are seeking to have the state to use federal rescue funds to pay as much as $1 billion in unemployment taxes that the private sector would otherwise have to finance.

“I do think that is reasonable,” he explained. “That kind of expense is onerous on businesses. Using federal funds can be good for everybody.”

As he has indicated at various times during his administration, Dunn said state officials need to address the unfunded pension liability.

The 2018 report from the state Commission on Fiscal Stability & Economic Competitiveness indicated that the pensions for state employees were only 29 percent funded. A November 2020 Wall Street Journal editorial stated that Fitch Ratings has reported that Connecticut has a pension liability for its workers that equals 25.9 percent of personal income – the second highest in the nation, behind Illinois. Fitch indicated that anything above 20 percent is considered to be "elevated."

Regarding the local economy, Dunn said Brookfield restaurants have done relatively well during the pandemic through a high volume of take-out orders.

“However, the big box stores are having a lot of difficulty,” he added. “That’s been true for years. Amazon, Wal-Mart and other major online vendors have been eating their lunch” since in many cases they can offer same day service.

On another topic, Dunn said that construction is proceeding slightly ahead of schedule on the $78.1 million Candlewood Lake School, which will educate students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and in effect replace Huckleberry Hill Elementary School, which is currently located on the same parcel, and Center Elementary School (CES), the oldest school in Connecticut and the last wooden school building in the state.

The project is expected to be completed by late summer 2022. Dunn said municipal officials should have hard numbers for the project by this spring. He expects that since there is money allocated in the proposed municipal budget for a design review of CES, that later this year it could select a consultant to determine the viability and costs for converting CES into a combined library and Parks & Recreation activities center, as an ad-hoc committee has recommended.