Roads Pass Referendum; Parks Fail

The unofficial results of the Brookfield Reinvestment Program bond referendum have the $10 million bond for road repair and recapture passing with 1,656 voting 'yes' and 934 voting 'no,' and the $5.3 million bond for improvements to Kids' Kingdom, Cadigan Park and Town Park Beach failing with 1,206 residents voting 'yes' and 1,384 'no,' as of Tuesday evening.

The split decision means that the town will immediately begin moving forward with the five-year plan to fix and repave Brookfield's roads, while the recreational facilities wait for another time.

"Clearly the residents of Brookfield understood our roads are in deplorable condition," First Selectman Bill Davidson said Tuesday night, adding that the residents should be proud to have supported the referendum. The result of the parks referendum, however, was "disappointing — we would have never put them forward if we didn't think it was critical," he said.

Moving forward, Davidson plans to "take a deep breath, relax for a few days [on the referendum issue], then set out to find out why they [the parks improvements] weren't supported by the residents." Before speculating on how to proceed, Davidson plans to reach out to the public to find out how "they want us to go forward," whether they approve of closing certain facilities or doing minor improvements to bide time.

"We had 26-28 percent of the people vote, but they spoke their minds and those who didn't vote will have to go with that," Selectman Steve O'Reilly said Tuesday, after the vote. "We all know the roads need to be done and maybe we'll revisit the parks at a later time," but for now, "We go forward."

"I'm glad we got the money for the roads, we'll move ahead with that," Selectman Howard Lasser said shortly after the results came in. As for the parks, "We'll have to figure out a way to move forward," he said, "These are things that have to get done or we're going to have to close facilities, and I don't think the residents want that."

Without the assistance of bonded funding, improvements to Cadigan Park, reconstruction of the seawall at the Town Beach and the replacement of Kids' Kingdom will have to be funded through the general budget. "We'll have to find creative ways of keeping them open," Lasser said, though at the time he was not prepared to theorize on how that may be accomplished or the priorities moving forward.