Thursday night’s capital projects public hearing, organized by current BET chair, Republican Harry Fisher and First Selectman Fred Camillo, had few surprises but for feedback that the entire process should be more transparent.
The meeting lasted just one hour. It might have been longer if there was an option to testify remotely.
On the dais, in addition to Fisher and Camillo were BET members Elliot Alchek, Matt DesChamps, Leslie Moriarty, David Weisbrod, Leslie Tarkington and Stephen Selbst.
Left to right: BET Republicans Leslie Tarkington and Harry Fisher, First Selectman Fred Camillo and BET Democrat Stephen Selbst. Nov 13, 2025 (screenshot from Optimum Channel 79)
Not in attendance were Lucia Jansen, Nisha Arora, David Alfano, Scott Kalb or Karen Fassuliotis.
Mr. Fisher who chaired the meeting, will no longer be chairman after January when a member of the party with the most votes from the Nov 4 election, the Democratic party, will become the chairman.
In the audience were some non-incumbent BET members who were newly-elected on Nov 4 and have yet to be installed, including Joe Kelly and Laura Erickson.
Mary Brown, VP of Advocacy for the League of Woman Voters of Greenwich, said her organization in 2019 undertook an in-depth study on Greenwich capital projects and published the findings in 2023.
She shared 8 recommendations for a strong, transparent process for planning and managing capital projects:
• long term strategic vision, updated regularly
• multi year financial plan/
• shared financial model
• transparent and regularly updated priorities
• meaningful public engagement
• professional project oversight and post-completion evaluation
• more efficient budget cycle
• full and reasonable use of the town’s financial capabilities
Steve Waters, who co-chaired the LWV’s 10-member-committee that conducted the LWVs capital projects funding study said the bi-partisan committee was unanimous in its recommendations as were the members of the LWV who voted 117-0 to accept the study.
“We asked that the town have a better capital plan that goes out more than one year. It should go out five years,” Waters said. “It should be transparent to the voters. Priorities should be discussed publicly, not privately. We ask that all big projects be fully vetted and costed in a standard way. That they be approved, ideally in a bi-partisan way, that they be monitored when they’re underway, and audited when they’re completed.”
“These are obvious statements, but they are not what we do today,” Waters said, adding that a better process would take additional time for the BET, but voters would be able to understand the process and follow along. “They have asked you to do this. It takes leadership.”
School buses parked on asphalt and grass at Western Middle School. Sept 13, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager
Frances Wu Nobay, facilities committee chair for PTA Council, urged support the Riverside School and GHS swimming pool renovation projects.
Ms Wu Nobay urged support for a dedicated school bus parking lot. School buses are parked at multiple locations in town including the Old Greenwich train station, Julian Curtiss School and Western Middle School grass field where children previously played at recess. The district has been searching unsuccessfully for a local parking lot to rent.
To save about $2 million in a new bus contract last spring, the district switched bus companies, but DATTCO doesn’t have a local parking lot.
“Temporary fixes like parking 80 buses on the Western Middle School recess field, asking Julian Curtiss School teachers to leave their classrooms mid-day to move their cars out of staff parking, or forcing traffic to squeeze past parked buses on Lake Avenue is inequitable, inappropriate, and – as winter approaches – unsafe.”
Wu Nobay suggested the town acquire land or reconfigure existing sites, maybe creating a town parking facility for school buses and the trucks that today park at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park behind the 1950s era Parks building.
Parks Division shed on Arch Street. Photo: Leslie Yager
James Waters, who chairs the RTM’s Budget Overview Committee and the Old Greenwich School building committee, suggested the hearing be part of a broader effort to get the town’s capital planning on track.
“The input we hear on the RTM is that this needs to include several components: One, ensuring there is appropriate oversight of town capital projects. Two, reinstating a process to prioritize projects. Three, updating the cost data for the capital projects. Four, considering alternatives for financing the projects.”
“If we can create a better process, the town and taxpayers will benefit,” Waters said.
Newly elected Selectwoman Rachel Khanna said there is an estimated $1.6 billion in needed capital projects, some which should be addressed immediately.
“Projects to manage flooding, sea level rise, to address facilities that are crumbling or needed upgrades to bring us into compliance with ADA legislation,” she said.
Khanna noted the meeting provided no way for people to testify remotely.
The meeting was live on local cable channels and GCTV YouTube live, but there was no Zoom option, which would have allowed remote testimony.
Also, she the meeting would have been more efficient if residents were provided with a full list of contemplated capital projects with short descriptions, rank and order of important and estimated costs.
Lucy von Brachel, chair of RTM district 4, said, “We all agree that the capital process is broken. To some extent this is like putting a bandaid on a broken arm.”
“We need a collaborative, deliberative, data-driven process that’s consistent, transparent, accessible to the public and predictable. Laymen should be able to follow what the town does with its budget because we are the ones who fund it. Clarity and consistency in terms of how projects are prioritized should be standardized. There should be a rubric so we can see how you make your decisions.”
Ms von Brachel described a more holistic process that would also include what happens after a project is funded: what the money was spent on, whether it was on budget and how long it took.
Pam Ferraro, a member of the RTM Budget Overview Committee, also urged the BET to take another look at the LWV capital projects study.
“This is a really long list of capital projects. We know we can’t address them all at once, so what is the plan?”
Ferraro said one of the LWV study recommendations was to create a standard financial model maintained by town hall with stated assumptions and requirements to aid decision making.
“This came from the observation that there is no agreed upon town financial plan. That seems completely inadequate,” she said.
Riverside School
Riverside School PTA co-presidents Jocelyn Michaels and Virginia Lockhart urged continued commitment to funding for the renovation of their school, noting that school community had testified repeatedly at hearings since 2022.
Problems with the building include critical safety, security and accessibility issues; upstairs classrooms only accessible by stairs, undersized classrooms and cafeteria, and instructors without dedicated classroom space.
Parents noted the First Selectman publicly endorsed and prioritized the project in his January 2025 budget presentation and the BET unanimously approved the A&E funds for the current fiscal year. The Board of Selectmen recently nominated members of a building committee.
Caitlin Wardell said the Riverside School renovation was an improvement, not an extravagance.
“The Riverside real estate market is robust,” Wardell said. “The Town of Greenwich collects taxes commensurate with high real estate valuations. People willing to pay these housing prices and taxes don’t want to send their kids to old, overcrowded schools. the Town of Greenwich wants to continue to benefit from the Riverside tax base, it needs to invest in our school. otherwise you make Darien more and more attractive.”
Clearance over the diving board is reduced by means of a steel girder, steel beams, sprinkler piping and ductwork. Circled in the photo is a water bottle placed on the flange of the girder by a diver. Also visible in the photo are names that were written on the beam (obscured so as to not identify students). The TLBA report said this could only have been accomplished by hanging from the beam long enough to write the name.
GHS Swimming Pool
Several people noted the urgency of a major renovation of the swimming pool at Greenwich High School. At last March’s BOE meeting, swimmers and their families said they were shocked to learn about a consultant’s report and a potential 1-2 year shut down of the school’s eight-lane pool.
Constructed back in 1968 as part of the “new” high school on Hillside Road, the 25-yard swimming pool with its single 1-meter diving board has a host of issues.
Jonathan Fisher, Greenwich High School PTA co-president, described the failing 60-year-old pool as a “dystopian eyesore.”
“Only one of the drains works. It has serious problems with the plumbing with the filter system, with building code violations and other issues,” Fisher said. “Any part of it could fail at any time. It could fail tomorrow and the pool is already deemed too unsafe for the dive team to use,” Fisher said.
GHS boys swim coach Terry Lowe recalled coming to Greenwich in the 1960s knowing the town was poised to build a school with a pool.
“I never thought that I would outlast the current facility,” he joked to a round of applause.
“I can’t imagine GHS without a pool even for a year, as its aquatics teams are probably the school’s most successful, and maintaining the continuity of these programs is vital to their continued success.”
Heather DeVries urged the BET to fund the pool quickly.
“I’ve been on pins and needles all season worried the pool would stay open. The current pool is on its last legs and the feasibility committee has been working hard for 7 months to determine the best course of action,” DeVries said. “The BOE will be considering the ed specs for the pool shortly and we urge you to fund the initial design in the upcoming budget and fund the construction after that.”
Matthew Murphy also urged prioritizing the pool project.
“The the existing pool has had a remarkable return on investment in the form of creating championship teams and helping countless kids become well rounded.”
Murphy said the pool was “on its last legs.”
GHS Traffic and Egress
Ashley Cole a resident of Hillside Road across from GHS urged the BET to prioritize a second egress for the high school campus, noting the request has been ongoing for years.
“It’s really past time,” she said, holding up a 2019 study from Fuss & O’Neill which she said spelled out the need for a second egress for improved safety.
Cole said said there was an upcoming Connecticut Dept of Transportation bridge project between Brookridge and Hillside will reduce traffic to one lane in each direction on Putnam Ave while they lift the bridge.
“We will need kids to get in to school safely. This egress is necessary,” Cole said.
Catherine Pushkar, also from Hillside Road, described a “ferocious bottleneck.”
“Traffic backs up on both directions, cars at a standstill and residents can’t get in or out,” she said, adding that beyond daily stress and inconvenience of the bottleneck was the safety factor.
“I have seen some crazy moves by frustrated parents just trying to drop off a kid. I cannot be the only person who has thought, what if something happens?” she asked. “For a school this size, a single vehicular entrance and exit on a residential street is almost willfully inadequate. In an emergency –whether it’s fire, lockdown, or medical crisis – one access point is just a huge risk.”
Steven Miller said he too served on the GHS safety and parking committee said he had also been waiting for some of the ideas implemented, especially the second egress.
“As acute as the needs were back when were active on that committee, they’re even greater now. We’ve created a new auditorium which brings more people back and forth. We’ve added fields which brings people back and forth. We’ve invited many people who are not members of our community to our fields – instead of 5 days a week there is 7 days a week of usage.”
After the meeting, newly re-elected Democratic member of the BET, David Weisbrod commented in an email, “Hearing directly from residents last night was invaluable. We listened carefully. Community feedback is now the driving force behind our next steps. We look forward to collaborating with the First Selectman and our BET colleagues to swiftly put a needs-based capital plan into action for the community.”