Dunn declares it was an honor to serve as first selectman

By Scott Benjamin

(First of a two-part report)

BROOKFIELD -- Former U.S. Rep. Toby Moffett (D-6) once told Connecticut Magazine that “sometimes politics can be like a train ride away from yourself. Sometimes it is hard to say a year later that you are a better person.”

Democratic First Selectman Steve Dunn, who lost his bid for a fourth term in the November 2 election, said, “You don’t get a lot of days off. I probably averaged 60 to 70 hours a week. At times it feels like you’re running a marathon. But you know that going in.”

“But I think the trade-off that I made is a good one, because I love this town,” he added.

Republican Tara Carr, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, ran 218 votes ahead of Dunn. She garnered 51.24 percent of the vote to 47.53 percent for Dunn and 1.23 percent for petitioning candidate Austin Monteiro.

Carr’s victory was the most impressive for a Republican nominee since the late Jerry Murphy, who tallied a 441-viote plurality in the 2003 general election and was re-elected to a second term while running unopposed in 2005.

She will become the first woman to serve as first selectman since Republican Bonnie Smith left office in 1999 after 12 years in the position.

Dunn tabulated enough votes to capture one of the other Selectmen seats on the three member board. Republican Harry Shaker, who has been on the board for the last four years, will continue for the next term, which starts early next month. Shaker annexed the second highest total of votes among the candidates running for either first selectman or one of the other selectmen seats.

Dunn, who has lived in Brookfield since 1983, said that even though he had been active coaching youth sports and serving as a scout leader, he “met a lot of people” for the first time while serving as the first selectman.

“We have had some incredibly difficult times, maybe the most difficult in the history of the town,” he said regarding the impact from the 2018 macroburst, which left trees strewn through lawns across the town, the ongoing pandemic and major tropical storms in 2020 and 2021

Dunn lauded the police, fire, emergency medical services and town hall personnel who responded to the challenges. He still vividly recalls how neighbors used chain saws to cut trees and make it possible for him to return to his home on the night of the macroburst.

“That says a lot about the quality of people in Brookfield and how we were able overcome the obstacles,” he remarked in an interview with Brookfield Patch.

Dunn said the town vaccinated almost 10,000 residents.

“That is maybe the most in the state for a town our size,” he exclaimed.

Dunn pointed to the referendum approval in 2019 of the $78.1 million Candlewood Lake Elementary School as one of his biggest accomplishments. He noted that the town hired an owner’s agent to oversee the expenditures and although the completion has been delayed due to supply-chain issues the project is $3 million under budget.

State Rep. Stephen Harding (R-107) of Brookfield, a former Board of Education member, remarked, “That school, which my young son and daughter will be attending someday, is a great legacy. The new building is desperately needed.”

In an interview, Monteiro praised Dunn for bringing fiscal stability to the town, which boasts an AAA bond rating from Standard & Poor’s.

Dunn, who was a vice president at J.P. Morgan Chase, said during his six years in office the fund balance grew from 1.9 percent fund balance to 14 percent. The pensions for the municipal employees are funded at 123 percent.

“We have borrowed at incredibly low rates,” he declared.

He said that if he had been re-elected he had planned to start discussions in 2022 on the construction of a library and community center at the current Center Elementary School, which will be vacated in less than two years, and expanded police facilities. However, he noted that with the costs associated with paying for the new school it may take some time for those projects to come to fruition. He estimated that each of them could potentially cost at least $25 million.

“We can’t take on new projects right now,” Dunn said.

Both Monteiro and Carr were critical during the campaign of the development of the 198-acre Brookfield Town Center near the Four Corners intersection on Federal Road, saying, for example, that residents thought they were going to get a project more similar to the pedestrian-friendly Main Street in Ridgefield.

Harding said in an October 11 interview with Brookfield Patch that some constituents he had spoken with were “frustrated” over the slow progress on the New England-style business district.

Critics have said there is too much housing and not enough retail.

Harding emphasized that Dunn not any “single person” was responsible for the delays in getting the central business district completed.

However, was that a factor in the results in the race for first selectman?

In a November 9 interview Harding said, “It is hard to say.”

Dunn said, “I’m frustrated, too” over the obstacles in getting the project finished.

“It never moves as quickly as you would like it to,” he declared, noting that a six month delay in approval from state officials moved the installation of the third of six phases of streetscape from 2021 to 2022.

“It’s been 12 years,” Dunn said, making reference to the opening in November 2009 of the Route 7 bypass, which alleviated traffic congestion near the Four Corners intersection of Federal Road and made the Brookfield Town Center a reality. Former Democratic First Selectman Ken Keller initially conceived the concept of a central business district in the late 1980s.

Said Dunn, “People want it finished.”

Dunn said a consultant’s study, which included input from more than 1,000 Brookfield residents, was completed under former Democratic First Selectman Bill Davidson, who left office in 2013. Under former Republican First Selectman Bill Tinsley, who served from 2013 to 2015, tax abatements were approved for the development of the Brookfield Village development, which includes retail on the first floor and housing on the second and third floors.

“I can’t take credit for those first two buildings [at Brookfield Village],” said Dunn. The demolition of the site began under Dunn as well as the accompanying infrastructure of Brookfield Village.

He said a number of residents have said the first two phases of the streetscape “are beautiful” and he believes their installation has already attracted development and are the reason that a large supermarket began site work in the business district earlier this year.

Regarding his future, Dunn said, “I have no plans right now on the political side” to run for office again.

He said the response from residents in the days following the municipal election have been “very positive for the most part. Most people have been very gracious. It has been a privilege to serve this town.”