News from Wilton News from the First Selectman's Office

*This is a portion of First Selectman Toni Boucher’s community message. To read it in its entirety, visit https://www.wiltonct.gov/home/news/news-first-selectmans-office-february-10-2025

Final Budget Vote in May

Voters will decide final budget at the Annual Town Meeting in May. Please listen in to the Board of Selectmen meetings when the presentations are made, and speak up when you have something you’d like to add to the deliberations.

Transfer Station

A new, more convenient, credit card payment system is planned for in 2025 that will replace the need to buy trash stickers at Town Hall.

Highway Department

Road maintenance work is done by in-house crews using Wilton owned equipment. This very expensive equipment, like our fleet of trucks, is also maintained by Wilton employees, at a huge cost savings to the Town.  

Town Facilities and Board of Education Facilities

The DPW oversees the maintenance, repairs, improvements and new building construction for town facilities, and capital improvements for all of the town school buildings.  Any work done on the Board of Education facilities is coordinated with the Board of Education staff. Ideally, the town should have its own maintenance department, which is recognized by all as sorely needed. Two additional staff hiring were contemplated for this long-term cost saving measure, but unfortunately could not be budgeted in for this FY 26 cycle.   

carry the water away from the field and into the nearby stream. A Community Project Fund grant 

Looking Ahead - Approved Projects

Town improvements have been approved but are in the planning and design phase. With help from state funding, Old Mill Road Bridge, Old Ridgefield Road Bridge, Middlebrook Farm Road Bridge and Seeley Road Bridge are slated to be rehabilitated. Other state grants will help replace Cannon Road Bridge, Honey Hill Bridge, Sugar Hollow Bridge and the Musket Ridge culvert. The Norwalk River Valley Trail will be expanded further with the approved Wilton Loop North extension of .9 miles. This new section will start at Skunk Lane and end at Pimpewaug Road. The chiller in Middlebrook School and The Cider Mill School elevator was approved for replacement by the Wilton voters as bond measures and are currently under design. Our town sewer systems will also see upgrades as part of infiltration and inflow related improvements in the next fiscal year.

Of course, the DPW is deeply involved in every discussion of the Town and School Buildings Needs Assessment Plan. Their expertise has been at the table for every meeting of the Assessment Committee, helping to organize the enormous undertaking of making long-delayed repairs on our school and municipal buildings. Without their guidance, prioritizing this enormous list would have been impossible. When they’re not outside in all kinds of weather, checking that everything in Wilton is working as it should, you can find DPW staff in cramped offices, or crouched together over large maps and building plans making do without a conference room. Large documents live rolled up in the corners because there isn’t adequate storage. The Annex building that houses their operation was once a garage built in the 1930’s. The bathrooms and staff kitchen are in rusted and run-down condition. We hope to improve their work life in our future renovation and repair plans. For all of their dedication, expertise and hard work, Wilton’s Department of Public Works, please, take a bow.

Town and School Needs Assessment Committee

Wilton can no longer delay critical repairs to school and town infrastructure. The office and meeting spaces at Town Hall and the Annex have reached their absolute maximum. Essential staff cannot be hired because there is nowhere to seat them. The Board of Selectmen will ultimately decide what goes before the voters at the Annual Town Meeting in May. But after careful deliberation, these are the ten priorities the Town and School Needs Assessment Committee feels the Board of Selectmen should consider:

1. 7 miles of road restoration
2. Wilton High School Library Roof Replacement
3. The Cider Mill School Chiller replacement (new equipment and piping)
4. Wilton Fire Department apparatus room new office and repairs. Money for this will create a closed office space for the apparatus supervisor, who currently works in the open garage space, in temperatures that are subject to the elements
5. Drainage system around Cider Mill School, and Sidewalk Repair on all schools.
6. a. Raymond-Ambler House renovation a deed obligates the Town to keep it as an administrative and public event space but it has been unusable due to its deteriorated condition.  b. Ambler Farm Yellow House is included in the same deed as the Raymond Ambler House. A grant of $55,000 was awarded to Wilton from the State Historic Preservation Office to remove lead paint from the outside of the house and from the ground around it. 
7. Replace floor tiles, lighting and ceiling tiles in all of Wilton’s schools, as needed
8. Replace 25 or more twenty-year-old exhaust fans in Middlebrook School
9. Replace heating system in the Middlebrook School gym
10. Renovate the restrooms at Merwin Meadows and bathrooms at Wilton Schools as needed

The artificial turf field at Wilton High School was slated to be replaced in FY 2027, but given the damage it sustained in last summer’s flood, this project was moved up to Fiscal Year 2026 as a potential project on the above list.

Gilbert and Bennett School

As many of you know, the beloved Gilbert and Bennett School building had to be vacated after the Wilton Health Department marked it unsafe because of the leaks and mold that existed, which were made worse by last August’s monumental flood. This historic building is a town-owned property that had been leased to private groups over the years, but has not had a lease in place since 2016. The Town is undertaking immediate repairs that will stabilize it. A large tarp has been ordered to prevent any more water damage, and work is underway to clean the building as best as possible. To make it fully functional again, however, would take an investment of well over $3 million. This estimate comes at a time when the Town is facing $140 million in repair costs to school and town facilities that are used by hundreds of people every day, and the $16 million new Police Station project that is in mid-construction, which was approved by the voters.  

Town leaders are happy to meet with anyone who would like to discuss the Gilbert and Bennett School building. 

Everbridge

Residents are strongly encouraged to sign up for Everbridge, the Town’s emergency alert system: https://member.everbridge.net/index/99507412926486