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Big Box Battle Ignites Revolutionary War in Brookfield, CT
An interesting phenomenon is playing out in a small Western Connecticut town. Brookfield, Connecticut (population 16,500) is advertising for a Chief Town Officer for its upcoming November 2009 election. First Selectman or Mayor is the Job Title. Who is behind the ad is unknown at this point, but it appears to be a well-organized effort to address thecronyism and special interest
groups that have apparently "hijacked" the political process and government in this small, mostly Republican voting town. Brookfield was one of the few Connecticut towns in support of John McCain in the last election.The political issues in the town boiled to the surface when Costco, a major warehouse discount retailer, sought to construct a big-box mega store on a farm property known as the "Cornfield" in Brookfield. While Costco currently operates a large facility in Brookfield, the expansion was sought to address Costco’s desire for a larger facility more in keeping with their standard store layout that includes the addition of liquor sales. Opposition escalated from a variety of sources including two churches and numerous "grass roots" groups which opposed this development project for traffic, safety and other reasons. It quickly pitted Real Estate factions against the general population and the politics got ugly.
The Realtor on the land deal for the Costco site was exposed as a member of one of the Town’s Boards and had not recused himself from the voting. The sale would have produced a commission in excess of $500,000 for this Commercial Realtor.
Additional investigation uncovered numerous Real Estate or Real Estate-aligned people sitting on various Boards and Commissions directly involved in the approval process for the Costco building application, including the sister of the Real estate company handling the sale is a member of the Inland-Wetlands Commission, who unanimously approved Costco’s application. Likewise, one of the Town’s lower selectmen is a realtor and his spouse is a member of the Chamber of Commerce - whose members supported the Costco relocation effort. The project application was withdrawn by Costco when it became apparent that addressing the Zoning issues would be costly and when the State became involved in the traffic study.
While the Costco story was unfolding, the Town’s largest-ever capital project, the renovation of its High School came under public scrutiny and criticism. The project, which cost over $31 million dollars, was behind schedule (by several years) and over budget, while the Municipal Building Committee and then-First Selectman was consistently reporting “On-time and On-budget” to the public during the three year construction period. However, only three weeks after the Municipal Building Committee Chairman reported the project "on budget" the Town had to vote to increase the school renovation budget by $750,000 dollars to cover over expenditures. It was then discovered that $600,000 or more was "missing", as money designated for a sewer line was diverted from one budget to another.
The project is still not complete, and the $600,000 that the taxpayers did not vote to approve for this construction project is still unaccounted for. The latest funding problem is the "miswriting" of a bond issue to expand the town’s Senior Center. That project is now in jeopardy as the State funding may be withdrawn due to budget cuts.
The privately run search for a Chief Executive seems to be driven as much by recent revelations and public outrage, as noted, as by discoveries of past errors, a long history of poor management and ethics violations.
Brookfield overestimated 2007 revenues due to an "error" by the former Controller, a 30 year veteran of the Town’s finance department. The 40 million dollar error resulted in a revenue reduction of several million dollars. (the former Controller quietly retired). Additionally, long time drawing down of the Town’s "fund Balance" from 11% of the Budget in 2003 to just over 2% in 2009 has limited the Town’s ability to Bond projects like roads, and similar improvements.This leaves the Town with no resource to draw from during this economic down turn, severely limiting the Town’s ability to provide services and educational enhancements.
Investigation and examination of public records shows that millions of dollars in taxpayer funded grants have been used to provide water pipes for a local privately held water company while town projects like road and senior center expansion have languished - unfunded. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the Town’s Treasurer is also a State representative in Hartford.
Further, the Town’s pension fund is significantly under funded and no explanation has been forthcoming from the Town’s missing Treasurer. No reports for prior years are available. Facing the challenges of the coming years, there is ample reason for this town to "give up" on its internal processes and seek outside help. The system of seeking outside "resources' is common for School Superintendents and similar positions, but is unusual in seeking someone in this manner to run for an elected position.
The advertisement for Brookfield's next First Selectman, currently running on several regional and national job sites refers applicants to a website - www.brookfieldunited.blogspot.com, is a symptom of the Town’s problems. The internal system for surfacing and vetting viable candidates from either the Republican or Democrat party has resulted in disenfranchising the majority of voters who are registered as Independent. This dissatisfaction was exemplified in the last municipal election when an unknown, retired school teacher defeated the two-term incumbent - even though the incumbent was supported by the State Governor, the Republican Party and the two area newspapers.
The larger question will be… Can the long term system of self interest and privilege be reversed by an outsider or must the current system self-destruct to become a Phoenix and rise from its own ashes?
While Brookfield is not alone in its problems, neighboring towns are seeing substantial shortfalls in revenue and have cut budgets significantly; some concerned citizens in Brookfield are apparently seeking an alternative to the existing process to address the issue. Will it work?
Brookfield First Community Action Network (CAN) is a non-partisan public interest network and Free Press which supports truth, integrity and excellence in Town Government. We are Pro-neighborhoods, Pro-value for taxpayers, Pro-honest and transparent government. We are independent and follow the truth wherever it may lead.
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