Hinger, Dunn Differ On Putting New Police Headquarters At Former Center School site

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD -- An ad-hoc committee is expected to recommend next June on whether the outdated police headquarters on Silvermine Road should be expanded or a new facility should be built on another section of the municipal campus or elsewhere in town.

Yet the two candidates in the November 4 election for first selectman have offered positions on whether a new headquarters should be constructed at the former site of Center Elementary School (CES) on Route 133.

Republican challenger Karl Hinger said a new police headquarters, which he called Brookfield's top capital "priority," should be built at the site of CES, which closed two years ago shortly before the new $78.1 million Candlewood Lake Elementary School (CLES) opened.

The Board of Selectmen also has appointed an ad-hoc committee to study the CES site and determine if a library and community center could be built there.

Hinger said after the police headquarters is built the current headquarters could be converted into a community center, which would be located near athletic fields and the town hall.

"We need to prioritize things," he commented. He acknowledged that his proposal is "not a perfect plan.:"

Democratic incumbent Steve Dunn, who is seeking a fifth non-consecutive term in the position, opposes building a police headquarters at the former CES site.

"The traffic on five different roads [near there] approaching the same location is not what we want," he exclaimed Tuesday night, October 7, during t he Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce debate in the Brookfield High School auditorium.

Dunn added, "The police would have to literally drive around cars to go on a call."

He said the ad-hoc committee is expected to make its recommendation in June and the Board of Selectmen plan to vote on it, send it to the Board of Finance and then a special town meeting so residents could vote on the proposal at referendum during the November 2026 gubernatorial election balloting.

Dunn said if the proposal is approved it would be two years before the town would start to make bond payments.

Hinger said that in 2017 Dunn had pledged to address the police facilities, which no longer conform to federal standards. The current headquarters was built in the 1980s.

Dunn said that the town proceeded with the CLES project, which was approved in 2019. He said that there had been discussion about replacing the former Huckleberry Hill Elementary School since he moved to Brookfield in 1983.

He said due to bond payments for CLES and the renovations to Brookfield High School (BHS) that were approved in 2003, the town would not be able to embark on another major bond payment until 2026 when the payments for BHS concluded.

Dunn underscored that the Board of Finance had pledged to keep bond payments at no more than 10 percent of the municipal revenues.

He added that under former First Selectman Tara Carr, who served from 2021-2023, there was no action on forming ad-hoc committees for the police facilities or the future of the CES site.

Hinger said the town became saddled with too much bond debt, which delayed action on the police facilities.

He added that the CES site has remained vacant for two years. He said planning for its future should have begun in 2019 after the CLES project was approved at referendum.

Dunn said he plans to propose to the Board of Selectmen that a planning firm be hired to assist in determining how the pieces of the capital plan should be formulated.

Some residents have noted that the town could end up with the current police headquarters and the current library, which is located on Whisconier Road, empty if new sites are built for each of them.

Dunn emphasized that this would not be a full-time planner for all related activities in Brookfield.

Hinger disagreed. "We should not be hiring out," he said.

He declared that, if elected, he would put in the hours to make those decisions without the help of a consultant.

Dunn said he works "60 to 70 hours a week."

He said hiring a consultant devoted strictly to the capital projects that are pending would be "reasonable" considering "the amount of money that we will spend" on those projects.

Said Dunn, "Let's do it right."

Note: Here is the YouTube link for the debate: