Editor’s note: shorty after this was published, town officials released
By Alice Waugh
Just days before the annual Town Meeting, officials are scrambling to tweak the wording of one of the warrant articles relating to the school building project.
At issue is Article 30, which asks voters whether they support a feasibility study to develop renovation project choices that include both repairs and enhancements to educational spaces. If they say yes, residents would next vote on Article 31, which asks for their support in applying to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for partial funding for the project. If Article 30 passes at Town Meeting, the corresponding town election ballot question would also have to pass (in both cases by a simple majority) on March 30.
The School Committee had proposed the wording for the three school-related articles on the Town Meeting warrant, which committee chair Jennifer Glass outlined in this letter to the editor.
The Board of Selectmen voted two weeks ago to support a comprehensive renovation project that specifically incorporated MSBA funding. At their March 23 meeting, the selectmen, along with Finance Committee members who visited their meeting, expressed a desire to see Article 30 tied more closely to that hoped-for funding.
But it’s not as simple as adding language to say that appropriating money (up to $750,000) on a feasibility study is contingent on securing state funding, because even if the town applies to the MSBA right away, it will not hear the decision until at least November, and the town’s tax rate must be set in July by law.
“You can’t set aside money conditional on something happening later,” Selectman Noah Eckhouse said.
The selectmen and Finance Committee members emphasized that they fully support the idea of seeking state funding for a comprehensive repair/renovation project. “Let’s go to the state this year with the strongest possible case we can make for the highest percentage vote at Town Meeting and the highest percentage vote at the polls to say we want to embrace the state process. That’s what this board would like to see,” Eckhouse said.
The concern about Article 30 as it’s currently worded is that “it’s trying to answer two questions at the same time… which lends itself to confusion,” Selectman Renel Fredriksen said. “I’m not sure what happens if we vote for this and the MSBA says no. What kind of project are we doing [then]?”
“We want to maximize the choices we have left if we don’t get MSBA money, in terms of where the feasibility study money could go,” Selectman Peter Braun said.
“Affordability is a different conversation with the MSBA than without. Although we want an overwhelming vote, we jeopardize that with the form of Article 30 and its lack of ‘tiedness’,” said Finance Committee chair Peyton Marshall.
Town Administrator Tim Higgins, Finance Committee member Eric Harris and Braun are working with town counsel on coming up with amended wording (editor’s note: that wording has now been released) for consideration by the School Committee at a special meeting on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell Multipurpose Room.
The selectmen have also scheduled meetings for Friday and Saturday at 8 a.m. right before Town Meeting. “A lot of what we vote on will depend on what the School Committee decides on Thursday,” Fredriksen said.
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