Dunn Says Capital Projects Will Be A Priority

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – Democratic First Selectman-elect Steve Dunn says planning for a revamped or new police headquarters and reconfiguring the former Center Elementary School will be projects that he will “move very, very quickly” when he begins his second tenure as the town’s top elected official.

“I think we need more focus on future planning,” he said after defeating incumbent Republican Tara Carr by an unofficial plurality of 407 votes in the municipal election.

“We have to go back to having our 10-year capital plan,” added Dunn, who initially captured the first selectman’s office in 2015 and served for three terms until Carr defeated him by 218 votes in 2021.

Under the 10-year capital plan there is a forecast on future construction projects.

The discussion on improving the police headquarters dates to at least 2017 when Dunn and his opponent, Republican Harry Shaker, both said it was Brookfield’s top capital priority.

Carr said during the campaign that she had updated preliminary costs from Police Chief John Puglisi for expanding the existing headquarters on Silvermine Road or building a new facility. At the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce debate on October 16, she said the expenses from the new estimates were “through the roof.”

Dunn and his running mate, Bob Belden, who captured a seat as an Other Selectman on the three-member board, said during the campaign that even though the town still has considerable debt related to the expansion of Brookfield High School, which was completed in 2009, and the new Candlewood Lake Elementary School, which opened two months ago, by 2026 there should be an opportunity to take on new projects.

They both have said it will take two to three years before a definitive plan could be developed and then approved by the voters at referendum.

Dunn, a former vice president at J.P. Morgan Chase, and Belden, who was a vice president at IBM, touted their managerial experience during the campaign.

Dunn has said that planning also can embark on Center Elementary School, which was ceded to the town this fall. He believes it could become a combination community center and library. Library officials have been seeking a new site since at least 1999, saying that the facility that opened in 1975 on Whisconier Road is too small for a population that is now approaching 18,000 people. A proposal to build a new $14.7 million library on a parcel adjacent to the municipal center on Pocono Road was rejected by nearly a 2-1 margin at referendum in 2018.

Dunn said this week that he hopes to have a preliminary plan for the police facilities by February so that it could be considered in the 10-year capital plan that would be part of the budget for the next fiscal year.

He noted that the $78.1 million Candlewood Lake Elementary School, was approved at referendum, in 2019, during his previous tenure, and came in “under budget.”

“I think that we can implement these projects [the police headquarters and the revamping of Center Elementary School] with reasonable tax increases,” Dunn commented.

He said he expects that the town’s tax base will continue to expand with the completion of phase three at Brookfield Village and the expected opening next summer of Emporium Plaza, which will feature a supermarket. Both are located in the 198-acre Brookfield Town Center, which is being developed into a New England-style central business district near the Four Corners intersection of Federal Road.

Town officials have considered the Brookfield Town Center since Democratic former First Selectman Ken Keller initiated the concept about 35 years ago when he was chairman of the Economic Development Commission.

Dunn acknowledged that some residents are concerned about the scope of the development in the Brookfield Town Center, which has added considerable housing in recent years.

“You have to manage development,” he remarked. “You can’t stop it.”

After losing the 2021 election, Dunn still had garnered enough votes to serve for the last two years as an Other Selectman. Carr now is in the same position, as she had more votes than her Republican running mate, Joe Rondini, and will serve for the next two years on the board with Dunn and Belden.

Said Dunn, “I look forward to working with Ms. Carr. I will do what I have always done and be civil and polite and include her in the decision-making. That is what happened when [Shaker] and [former Republican Selectman] Mary Flynn were on the board when I was first selectman.”