For NHS Expansion—

Finance Bd Balks At More Spending

By John Voket

At one point, nearly two-and-a-half hours into a September 8 finance board meeting, as officials were nearing a vote to recommend an additional $6 million appropriation for the Newtown High School expansion project, board member Martin Gersten offered an observation.

“This is not a debate between people who don’t want a new school and people who do want a new school,” Mr Gersten said. “This is a debate between people who want educational needs met, and people who want educational needs met at any expense.”

A few minutes later, Mr Gersten and fellow finance board members Michael Portnoy and Joseph Kearney voted against recommending the appropriation in a tie vote, causing the motion to fail.

Following the vote, board Chairman John Kortze advised that his board would not entertain another motion on the matter, and that the additional appropriation request would move to the Legislative Council for consideration on September 17.

The motion that came before the finance panel technically asked the board to approve amending an approved $38.8 million spending resolution, to add another $6.045 million to complete the project as proposed. That additional spending would be authorized for bonding, providing the measure is moved to public referendum by the council and subsequently approved by taxpayers.

Residents who came to the meeting at Newtown Middle School were nearly evenly split for and against the additional spending. Middle School PTA President Mary Ann Jacob reminded the board that the public had already soundly endorsed the project in an April referendum, which brought out record numbers to the polls.

“I hope tonight we’re not in for a long debate about the size of the expansion,” Ms Jacob said. “What’s left to decide is whether or not the town can afford the project and if each individual taxpayer can support the increase in cost.”

Stacie Doyle, a former council member, echoed her support for the additional appropriation, pointing out the projected trend of student population growth at the high school.

“The high school is overcrowded now,” Ms Doyle said. “The reality is that even with no growth in the district, if the current population completes its education in Newtown, the high school will continue to be overcrowded through the 2014-2015 school year. And that’s a best case scenario.”

Phil Clark, an architect who is designing the Newtown Youth Academy at Fairfield Hills, told the board, “Enough is enough.”

“I don’t understand why we are paying so much for this school. We should send the architect and construction manager back…to figure out what they have done wrong,” Mr Clark said. “I looked at the drawings myself — there’s a ton of things that are overdesigned in my humble opinion that can be cut out. We’re overpaying for this.”

Peder Scott, another architect, engineer, and construction manager with children about to enter Newtown High School, said he had just rebid a major project in the area that was originally bid when the local high school bid was solicited and he saved ten percent. He told the finance officials that the town should rebid the project to seek additional cost savings.

“Asphalt prices came down, trade prices came down,” he said. “To get a fixed-price contract right now is a mistake. Numbers are dropping everywhere.”

Resident Chris Smith, another construction industry worker, countered that he felt materials prices will continue to climb.

“The price we’re looking at now will only increase next year, and some of what we have been seeing over the past couple of years are double-digit increases,” Mr Smith said. “Even though none of us like the $6 million increase, it will be more next year.”

Once the amendment was moved and seconded for discussion, school board Chairman Elaine McClure proceeded to introduce several school officials, including Superintendent Janet Robinson, along with school board members Lillian Bittman and Catherine Fetchick, who each presented details on aspects of the project, outlining the need for the additional $6 million.

Dr Robinson explained that the public would be getting the same project that was approved in April, except for a rooftop garden or “green roof,” which provided about a $50,000 cost savings. The superintendent said she was hoping for an October 7 referendum, and reminded the finance board that current bids would expire on October 26.

The Cost Of Delay

Ms Bittman said that rebidding the project would delay occupancy of the expansion by another one to two years, and that the local construction industry would not react to global fluctuations and downward trends in material costs quickly enough to affect substantially lower bids if they were solicited now.

Ms Fetchick pointed out that possible cost savings in rebidding the project might be offset by additional costs to lease modular classrooms to handle student overflow for the additional time construction delays would cause. She also mentioned that rebidding the project would likely cause a half-million-dollar escalation in the cost of the artificially turfed stadium, because that work was currently built into a bid for site demolition to achieve an economy of scale.

During subsequent deliberations, Mr Kortze confirmed that it was his board’s responsibility to determine how to pay for the project, and to vet the process. Mr Kortze also mentioned that he had collected numerous questions from finance board members that were submitted to the school officials and building team in advance, in the hope that those questions would be addressed that evening.

Mr Kortze told The Bee following the meeting that in the end, very few of the questions were addressed, and those that were provided few details for the board to consider.

Prior to the vote, Mr Kearney asked if it was permissible to have the architect’s plans put out for review by an independent consultant, to put “fresh eyes” on the plans to possibly achieve some further refinements or cost savings.

Mr Portnoy followed up with the observation that the most recent student population projections max out at 1,777 students in the 2014-15 school year, and that factoring in for 85 percent capacity, could the plans be scaled back to build to that population number for the $38.8 million already approved.

“Or what can we get for $38.8 million?” Mr Portnoy asked.

Joe Costa, representing the architect Fletcher Thompson, said he could not answer the question at that moment.

Mr Kortze then asked if the Board of Education would be amenable to the Board of Finance juggling the school district’s Capital Improvement Plan as presented?

Ms McClure said that the finance board could do whatever it deemed appropriate as long as the high school expansion remained the top priority.

No ‘Plan B’

Mr Kortze then suggested since the school board pushed all other items out in its CIP, something may be able to be done sooner to save escalation costs and keep under the town’s self-imposed ten percent debt cap.

He reiterated a question that had been asked and answered several times before in the process regarding whether or not the Board of Education has a “Plan B” if the appropriation fails the council. Dr Robinson said there is no “Plan B.”

Since the subsequent tie vote defeated the recommendation, it is now up to the council to make the final decision. According to Town Attorney David Grogins, the town charter stipulates there is no vehicle to pursue a petitioned referendum to try and pass the additional appropriation if the proposal ties, or fails, at the council stage.

If the measure fails, the district will still retain the $38.8 million already approved, and will likely move forward with considerations on how to achieve its educational needs at the high school with the budget already approved by taxpayers last April.

A call to Dr Robinson to confirm that scenario was not immediately returned before The Bee went to press Thursday morning.