Speak Up! Tackles Tough Questions

The meeting room at Trackside Teen Center was crowded with over 100 citizens eager to ask questions of the dozen or so town officials gathered for the Speak Up! Wilton forum on Saturday morning.

The event's program asked attendees not to make speeches or personal remarks and, for the most part, people avoided doing so. Questions ran the gamut from sports to tax cuts for the elderly to union negotiations and beyond.

One citizen began with a compliment: "Our long nightmare is over with Route 7 and I want to give a tip of the hat to the Police Department for keeping us sane during that time."

He followed up with the question that, with the recent departure of the Police Chief, is the department understaffed and, if so, what is the plan to repair that?

Current Police Chief Michael Lombardo answered that the department is indeed two officers short of their regular 44-member force and that they were partway through the process of hiring another officer. He updated the attendees that, by trying to cover the 8o weekly hours not covered by the missing officers, many officers had been working overtime and been shuffled around within the department more times than he cared to share. He noted that stress levels were high at the station but that with the system they'd been using they'd managed to save $80,000 in manpower and overtime, though it didn't seem sustainable.

He also noted that the completion of Route 7, far from requiring less police activity, now requires more since, "increased speed is the new problem with Route 7. It's basically a multilane highway that runs through our town," he said.

Another question dealt with funding for the possible new senior center and when it might reach citizens for a vote.  Though the question was posed to the Board of Finance, they volleyed it to First Selectman Bill Brennan, since the Board of Finance only gives recommendations on these issues.

Brennan noted that the probable center is a capital project in the town's long-range capital program. He noted that it was the recommendation of the Parks and Recreation Department that the program be pushed back and is now slated to resurface in two years.

Parks and Recreation officials said the possibility of both a new senior and community center, " is tied directly to whether or not we can afford it."

Brennan added, "We'll get into it again the next time we review our normal budget procedure."

A more general question was asked of Town Planner Bob Nerney. A citizen simply wanted to know what he is doing and whether or not the public can weigh in on his work. He replied that all Planning and Zoning Commission meetings are open to the public.

He also shared that, unsurprisingly, development has slowed; there are less offices being built and less new businesses being opened, but that things aren't completely halted. He mentioned a spate of residential subdivision activity and that the Avalon residential community is still on his radar as well as a possible new community in the Canondale section of town and the new possibility of a hotel opening on the Wilton side of the Norwalk border.

He also noted, of course, that there has been a flurry of package store applications with the recent decision to allow liquor to be sold in town. The mention of package stores in town brought both a few grumbles and a few murmurs from the assembled crowd.

He reminded the group that, "the package stores will bring traffic to our town. We will become a shopping destination since people don't have to dash down to Ridgefield or Norwalk to get a bottle of wine for dinner."

An update from Cathy Pierce, Director of Social Services, reminded people that we are in a recession and that social services are there to help those in need.

"We all know people who are spending their savings to pay mortgages and we can help people gain access to public programs to help with utilities and more, " she said.

It was asked of Arlene Gottesman, Assistant Superintendant of Schools, whether Wilton had applied for Race to the Top federal funding and, the short answer was no; the town stood to gain only $10,000 over three years and the manpower needed to get those funds didn't make it economically viable.

It was asked of Tom Thurkettle, Director of Public Works, what could be done to clean the sand off of the roads and the leaves out of town gutters. Thurkettle reminded attendees that street cleaning begins at the end of winter and typically lasts two and a half to three months. He noted that the town is trying a new, salt-like product in a few sections of town to see if it is a viable option to begin using on a larger scale next year. If so, it would greatly reduce both mess and cleanup. He also said that the town has minimized sand usage on Route 7 as it is the flattest part of town.

Someone else asked about the environmental impact of the sand and Director of Environmental Affairs for the town, Pat Sesto, noted that the sand does cause erosion but that there are environmental consequences to wanting to go out and move about in the snow.

"There is balance to this and we do the best we can," she said.

It was asked what the town could do to better negotiate contracts with the unions in the upcoming negotiations with the Police and Municipal workers groups. Sarah Taffel, Manager of Aministration Services and head of union negotiations for the town for nearly a decade, noted that the last several negotiations with these unions had gone quite smoothly and she expected this round to be the same. Negotiations begin at the end of February.

Police Commissioner Mark Ketley commented that the last process with the police union, "was a good back-and-forth and not contentious as all." In the last negotiation the union was even amenable to drug and alcohol testing, "so we know we have drug and alcohol-free people with guns in our town," he said to a laugh.

It was asked why Wilton doesn't have crosswalk guards near the high school and Police Commissioner Ketley noted that New Canaan has four guards at an annual cost to the town of $54,000 and that, if the town believes it is needed, then it could be costly.

Someone asked about Wilton's instances of and preparedness to deal with the H1N1 virus and Steve Schole noted that the numbers have been exceedingly low. As far as preparedness, Fire Chief Paul Milositz mentioned that the cooperation level is quite high and that the town has a Flu Response Team whose methodology has been so successful that it's been the system adopted by Westport as well. Schole did suggest that everyone get immunized.

Other issues that came up but were without obvious solutions yet were: the ongoing legal battle with the FAA over airspace redesign; illegal parking in the Department of Transportation's gravel lot near Orem's Diner and whether there will be cuts made to the freshman sporting teams at the high school. Judging from the officials' reactions, the latter doesn't seem likely.