11 August—This is a letter recently retired Litchfield Selectman Jon Torrant sent yesterday to First Selectman Denise Raap and copied to Region 20 Board of Education Chairman Andrew Tita. The thoughtful proposal is attractive in a number of ways, for a number of reasons, and certainly should be seriously considered—by elected officials, school administrators, and voters—especially in light of Region 20 fiscal surprises that keep popping up:

Denise:

I am absolutely appalled that the Region 20 budget can be almost $4 million out of whack before the first schoolyear actually begins. In an effort to reduce the proposed $3.65 million bonding necessary to close the gap I offer the following suggestion:

Town of Litchfield negotiates a “deal” that returns LIS [Litchfield Intermediate School] to the Town as soon as possible or after the first schoolyear, i.e. about 7/1/2025. My understanding is that the building will only be about 1/3 occupied and ultimately will probably not be necessary to Region 20’s future plans. The 2 grades assigned to LIS can be reassigned to the Middle/High School when the change can be made by the Bd of Ed and the administration. Region 20 could then reduce the proposed bonding by roughly $1.5 to $2 million, or the amount the Region owes Litchfield for property. The added advantage for R20 is that they would need at least 1 less administrator and all the staff necessary to operate a school, as well as the cost of utilities, etc.

The Town would receive a building that could serve as a Town Hall. Plenty of office space, a gym for Park & Recreation, an auditorium for Town Meetings, etc., plenty of room for a vault for the Town Clerk’s office, a standby emergency generator already installed making it an ideal building for Emergency Management, space for either a new building for LVA [Litchfield Volunteer Ambulance] or an addition to the existing structure and, if desired, an office for the Resident Troopers. The LIS building and land also abut Plumb Hill Playing Fields which is land already owned by the Town. Some sort of agreement would have to be worked out for the structures in the LIS parking lot that contain solar panels.

An added advantage to the above would be that we could house all of the offices now located in the Bantam Annex and avoid the costly ( $12 million ?) capital proposal to bring that building up to useable condition. Most of the Annex could be demolished leaving only the Bantam Post Office and the Town would retain almost 10 acres of land for future use. Ultimately, the existing Town Hall could be leased to the U S Postal Service for a Litchfield Post Office, improving the traffic safety and parking situation on South Street. As long as the Town retains ownership of the building, legal requirements would be satisfied.

As I see it, the above suggestion would solve several issues all at once:

Region 20 reduces its proposed bonding to under $2 million

Region 20 reduces its administrative and staff headcount

Town of Litchfield receives a building that could address several issues at once, i.e. new Town Hall large enough to house all departments, reduced Capital spending, possibly improved traffic safety, etc.

I am not naïve enough to think that the above could be considered and/or implemented without overcoming a myriad of objections, both legal and educational, but as of this writing I haven’t seen any suggestions that appear to address the current problem any better. The usual educational approach is to just throw more money at the problem and I don’t envision that being approved by all 4 towns in Region 20.

I was, and still am, an avid supporter of Region 20 and the educational and athletic excellence it should and will provide to all the students of the 4 towns involved. However, the Region 20 rollout that we’ve seen since the spring of 2024 has forced me to reevaluate my exuberance. I hope the Region 20 Board of Education can restore my trust and excitement going forward.

Respectfully,
Jon Torrant