By James Lomuscio
Board of Finance Chairman Brian Stern called tonight’s meeting “more of a due diligence day than a decision day.”
It was a packed Board of Finance meeting tonight at Town Hall. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) James Lomuscio for WestportNow.com
And diligence it was, especially with $32 million on the line to fully renovate the shuttered, mold-plagued Coleytown Middle School (CMS), so it can reopen by August 2020.
“We first have to understand the need and what are the alternatives,” Stern told a packed audience of educators, parents and residents in Room 201/201A at Town Hall.
The second question was about value.
“Are we getting value?” Stern asked. “And the third is affordability and how to we pay for it, and what that means for the taxpayers and generations of future taxpayers because it’s a big bond.”
According to Gary Conrad, town finance director, the town would go out to bond for the $31,972,235 appropriation request for 20 years at an interest rate of 2.6% with a $41 million payout over its term.
The annual payout would be $2 million after the first two years, about 1% of the total town operating budget.
First Selectman Jim Marpe said that because of the request, which he supports, some capital improvements, such as the renovation of Town Hall, part of the five-year capital forecast, would have to be postponed.
“It doesn’t come without tradeoffs for the future, tradeoffs that we have to think about now as we make a decision,” Stern said.
The finance board is scheduled to vote on the appropriation on Wednesday, July 10.
Members of the CMS Building Committee and its chairman Donald O’Day, a former chairman of the Board of Education, said the renovation would include a new HVAC system; a new roof for the 129,485-square-foot building;, the removal of a few of its walls where interior vapor barriers had failed; adding either vinyl or brick cladding with vapor barriers over the brick exterior; regrading the grounds; replacing all of the windows, which were blamed for water leakage; and fully improving the interior from floor to ceiling.
The KG&D $32 million estimate was less than half of Newfiled Construction’s $75 million estimate to build a new school.
John Broadbin, deputy director of the town’s Department of Public Works, said that all of the mechanicals, from HVAC to windows, would have the same approximate 20-year life span whether the CMS were to be “renovated from the ground up or a new building.”
His comments seemed to confirm the consensus among many of those present that a new building was out of the question, as it would take longer to construct, cost more than twice the amount and have no longevity benefit.
A third option Stern cited for the group to mull was expanding the Bedford Middle School, where CMS students had been relocated last fall.
According to interim Schools Superintendent David Abbey, it would cost $18.8 million to expand Bedford by 41,000 square feet, which would comprise a separate gymnasium, two science labs and classrooms.
Board of Finance member James Westphal said that option did not add up as it was “$20 million vs. $30 million for one-third the space.”
The $32 million renovation thus gained significant support until longtime Westporter Don Bergmann threw a curveball into the mix. He said that with declining enrollments, “in the long term one middle school is actually a better result.” And for that reason, he advocated for expanding Bedford.
Participating by phone, finance board member Michael Rea used Bergmann’s comments as a springboard. He said the Board of Education has not yet officially voted on keeping the CMS building as a middle school.
He said that if CMS were not going to be used as a middle school, perhaps the renovation cost should be less.
Jeannie Smith, school board vice chairwoman, said that while the Board of Education is consulting with demographers and analyzing student population forecast data, “We have decided that this school will be used for middle school students.”
O’Day said that whether the building remains a middle school or is used for another grade configuration, “It doesn’t change the fact the school needs a new HVAC” and major renovations.
