New Panel Tackles Fairfield Metro Station Issues

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Another group of town officials has taken on the task of sifting through the problems with the Fairfield Metro train station’s construction. The Representative Town Meeting created a special committee this week to make sure its members are ready to decide whether to pay the $2.4 million to $6.4 million it will take to finish the station.

The committee chose Republican David Becker as its chair at its first meeting Wednesday night. Democrats Patti Dyer and Hal Schwartz and Republicans John Wesley Jones and Michael Herley will join him on the panel.

Interim First Selectman Michael Tetreau went before the RTM on June 27 with the news that unexpected problems caused $2.4 million to $6.4 million in cost overruns. Two days later, the Board of Finance set up its own subcommittee to delve into the issues surrounding the extra costs. Becker said Wednesday his committee will “fill in the blanks” of unanswered questions still surrounding the project.

“[The Board of Finance] is constructing their report,” Becker said. “But I think we may need to extract some information from their report to make sure the questions are answered properly.”

The subcommittee’s first step is to ask the RTM’s members what questions they still have. Tetreau sent a list of 58 answers to queries from the Board of Finance and RTM last month. But the subcommittee wants to make sure there are no lingering questions that may prevent a vote later this month.

The five will also meet with Director of Community and Economic Development Mark Barnhart, who oversaw the project for the town up to this point. Barnhart will brief the panel Friday evening.

After that, Becker and his group will meet two to three times per week until Aug. 30, when the RTM is set to vote on the cost overruns. The panel’s main goal is to make sure the town’s legislators vote that night and do not put off the vote because of a lack of information as they did with other projects this year.

“If we don’t get the answers, and they ask [questions] on the floor of the RTM, that could create a problem,” Becker said. “We want to make sure they have all the information we need to go and make that decision.”

Do you still have questions about the Fairfield Metro station’ cost overruns? Ask them in the comments below or send them to gcanuel@thedailyfairfield.com.

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