Dunn says plans progress on expanding police facilities

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – First Selectman Steve Dunn says he remains confident that residents will be voting next November on expanding police facilities that have long been outdated.

Dunn, a Democrat, was sworn-in by Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz (D-Middletown) to a fifth non-consecutive term Sunday during the inauguration ceremony for the municipal officials elected on November 4. He served as first selectman from 2015 to 2021 and then after a term as an Other Selectman captured the first selectman's position again in 2023.

In an interview, he said the ad-hoc Police Facilities Committee, chaired by former Police Chief Jay Purcell, is about to hire a design consultant and there will probably be “two or three’ forums through the winter and early spring for residents to comment on the various options.

Dunn and other municipal officials have said for years that the current headquarters no longer confirms to federal standards. There has been discussion about expanding police facilities since at least the 2017 municipal campaign.

The ad-hoc committee is studying whether to expand the existing headquarters on Silvermine Road – which was built in the 1980s – or construct a new headquarters either elsewhere on the Municipal Campus near Pocono Road or at another stie.

Dunn again said he believes the committee will make a recommendation in June and a referendum question on the proposal can be on the ballot in the November 2026 gubernatorial balloting.

During the ceremony, Bysiewicz asked the family members of the municipal officials to stand and be recognized.

She praised the municipal officials for campaigning during an era where there is “divisiveness sometimes” through the social media and other outlets.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Greenwich) administered the oath for Selectman Bob Belden, an unaffiliated voter who again ran on the Democratic slate. Belden is starting his second term as a selectman. He previously chaired the Board of Finance and the Board of Education.

Blumenthal asked for the military veterans to raise their hands and be recognized.

Selectman Karl Hinger, a Republican, was sworn in for his first term by state Sen. Stephen Harding (R-30) of Brookfield, the leader of the GOP caucus. Hinger lost to Dunn in the municipal election but garnered enough votes to capture one of the seats on the three-member board.

The Master of Ceremonies Ellen O’Donnell thanked the municipal officials for making the “commitment” to serve Brookfield.

Assistant Town Clerk Donna Korb administered the oath to incoming Town Clerk Phebe Holmes, who will succeed Andrea DiStephan, who stepped down in August.

State Rep. Marty Foncello (R-107) of Brookfield noted that as a former two-term first selectman he has attended a number of “these events.” He urged the municipal officials to remember that “the campaign is over. Now is the time you begin to go to work.”

During the ceremony in the auditorium of Candlewood Lake Elementary School, the local Boy Scouts of America presented the colors, the Brookfield High School chorus sang the national anthem, the Brookfield Youth Commission led the Pledge Of Allegiance and the Rev. Jen Whipple delivered the invocation.

On another topic, Dunn said progress is being made on the town’s other major pending capital project – the future of the former Center Elementary School. The school closed two years ago and an ad-hoc committee, chaired by longtime civic volunteer Bob Zinser, is studying whether to renovate the structure or demolish it.

Dunn said the ad-hoc committee interviewed architects two weeks ago will soon select one of them to “start planning a design” for a community center.

Regarding the Still River Greenway - which opened nine years ago between Emporium Plaza and the Municipal Center, and is currently the third most-used greenway trail in Connecticut - Dunn said that in “three or four years” there may be a connection to New Milford.

Brookfield Community Development Specialist Greg Dembowski recently told Brookfield Patch that the town received a $659,000 state Department of Transportation grant to advance the Still River Greenway Connector. He said it is a highly-competitive grant program that the town had applied for since 2016 and had most recently been denied in 2020.

Dunn said that the route to New Milford s currently be designed and should be ready for consideration in 18 months.

Commented Dunn, “Then we have to find the money" to fund all of it.

He said the ultimate goal is to have a greenway that extends from Long Island Sound to the Massachusetts border.

On another subject: Dunn said the recent opening of Food Emporium at Emporium Plaza on Federal Road is “beginning to add to the town center that we always wanted.”

That “town center” has been contemplated since at least the late 1980s under Democratic former First Selectman Ken Keller, who later chaired the Economic Development Commission. The area has undergone a gradual transformation since the opening of the Route-7 bypass in 2009, which rerouted much of the through traffic through the northern section of Federal Road.

The supermarket is expected to attract customers from the 198-acre Brookfield Town Center district near the Four Corners intersection on Federal Road and beyond.

“I think it is going to be very popular,” said Dunn. “I got there and back home yesterday in 12 minutes.”

The other municipal officials who were elected November 4: Liam Enea, Terrance Petiprin and Douglas Clemons, Zoning Board of Appeals; Shannon Riley and Jeffrey Bronin, Board of Assessment Appeals; Curtis Timmerman, Geoff Hunton, Gregory Petriccione and Brian McGovern, Planning & Zoning Commission; Caroline Cowles, Erin Scalera and Joy Greenstein, Board of Education; and Glenn Rooney, Leslie P. Slater, Brianna Ruocco and John Mascolo, Board of Finance.