During a regular meeting December 5, the Legislative Council unanimously approved an ordinance that bans the storage, transportation, and presence of hydrofracking waste within the town’s borders.

During that session, the council also authorized bonding $300,000 for a number of planned renovations and improvements to the C.H. Booth Library and began reviewing Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) requests that will impact borrowing and debt service in the 2019-20 municipal budget.

While the planning and formulation of the fracking waste ban has been gyrating between the council and its Ordinance Committee for months, it took less than five minutes for the full panel to accept and approve the ordinance recommendation.

Speaking to the motion to approve the proposal, Ordinance Chairman Ryan Knapp explained that by adopting a fracking waste ban, Newtown would join more than 50 other state municipalities that previously adopted similar prohibitions on the storage or use of the toxic waste.

Mr Knapp said by adopting the ordinance, it would protect the community in a more comprehensive way than state statutes governing fracking waste.

Moving to an examination of the school district’s capital requests, the council talked with Board of Education Chair Michelle Embree Ku, school board CIP Committee Chair Debbie Leidlein, and district Business Manager Ron Bienkowski.

Mr Bienkowski told the council that the school district’s CIP accounted for planned projects over the coming five years, while factoring additional needs that could surface in years six to ten. He also said the school board’s major focus was on projects in the earliest two years of the plan.

One of those major projects involves a boiler replacement in the 1921 section of the Hawley School and replacement of the original boiler at the Newtown High School. Mr Bienkowski explained that the district was eligible for several significant rebates from the district’s electricity and natural gas utility, Eversource.

The district business manager told the council that in order to be eligible for the major rebates tied to the boiler replacements, each property would need to bundle those projects with secondary energy improvements. In the case of Hawley School, the secondary improvement would involve the installation of new high efficiency lighting and controls.

Mr Bienkowski said while the total project costs for all proposed improvements would have to be bonded, the outstanding debt would be reduced once rebates are issued. At the same time, the district would reap all savings as a result of the measures.

He said that similar improvements made several years ago at the middle school are generating measurable savings, and improvements targeted for Hawley School are estimated to save in excess of $30,000 annually.

Mr Bienkowski did not have specifics on the high school project with him, but the school district will report back to the council on those specifics at a future meeting. He said while bonding for the improvements would be paid off over 20 years or less, the lifespan of the improvements would be 30-35 years.

Hawley Ventilation

Discussion on current and future capital projects at Hawley School offered what appeared to be some good news and some details that are still elusive.

Mr Bienkowski said the district has decided to employ individual “split ductless” air conditioning/heating units throughout the building to address particularly the need for cooling during the warmer months of occupancy. He said this measure was a “first step” in addressing long-standing and related issues throughout the building.

The business manager said the ductless units could be installed in 33 rooms at the school for an estimated cost of $525,000, and that the district was going to propose funding come from a relatively new non-lapsing account that was established specifically for projects of this nature.

That installation would also have impact on future CIP requests surrounding Hawley HVAC projects involving ventilation and other code updates, Mr Bienkowski said. He stated that building codes require that school buildings maintain a 20 percent ratio of fresh air, and the ductless units, while providing cooling and supplemental heating, do not circulate fresh air. He further said the prospect of creating fresh air handling systems at Hawley was challenging, since the building’s design would force all such mechanicals.

For that reason, Mr Bienkowski supported leaving a $5 million placeholder in year two of the CIP, at least until the ductless installations were completed, and the district could turn attention to the scope and cost for fresh air handling.

Council Chairman Paul Lundquist stated that the HVAC system upgrade has been in the CIP since his son, now a college student, was at Hawley. Mr Bienkowski affirmed that fresh air handling has been part of proposed HVAC capital improvements at the school for about 14 years.

Ductless Efficiency

He said there was no measurable fresh air circulating through the school when windows are closed, and in warmer months, it is a challenge to open windows to promote fresh air circulation because of outside noises distracting students. When asked if cooler air or fresh air was more important, Ms Leidlein replied that both are equally important.

Mr Knapp said he was pleased to learn of the pending installations, noting that the split ductless systems are 30 percent more efficient than conventional systems because no cool or warm air is lost when passing through ducts.

It was suggested that the town explore the idea of combining boiler replacement projects between the school district and town in the event more money could be saved by doing multiple projects at one time. The potential for similar savings surfaced when discussing replacing artificial turf fields in the district’s CIP.

Mr Bienkowski reminded the council that with the town’s new purchasing agent on board, there would be detailed analyses of projects where economies of scale could be achieved by combining similar projects like boilers and turf fields.

While the council also had brief question opportunities with representatives of local fire departments regarding apparatus purchases and the emergency communications departments about future CIP projects, there was still the matter of authorizing borrowing for current year projects planned for the Booth Library.

Library Board of Trustees Chair Amy Dent, Trustee Tom D’Agostino, and Library Director Douglas Lord were on hand to review the spending proposal.

Ms Dent told the council that she provided responses to a list of questions that were sent about the pending projects. She said that because the Booth Library is an aging building with new and continuing challenges, as the board looks to its strategic plan, “We recognize the need for [spending] restraint.”

She said while the best case scenario would be to complete several major projects all at once, prohibitive costs have resulted in having to find a way to prioritize and finance specific fixes in piecemeal fashion.

Ms Dent also told the council the trustees were considering a similar energy efficiency program from Eversource that would loan the library funds to complete certain bundled projects at zero percent interest.

Clarifying what the library planned to do with the $300,000 allocation in the current CIP, Ms Dent replied that addressing issues related to the facility’s HVAC system and the repair of flashing around leaking skylights were an immediate priority. She said CIP funding would supplement projects that would not be covered under the Eversource initiative if the trustees decided to utilize the program.

“All the other [projects] would help us accomplish items in our strategic plan,” Ms Dent said. She added that the current year CIP funds would help the library “complete what is already started — a lot of small things.”

She referred council members to CIP documentation for a complete list of remaining projects under the current allocation. Mr D’Agostino said that certain projects also have to be done in phases as to not completely disrupt day-to-day operations.

The council proceeded to unanimously approve the authorization for bonding $300,000 to complete the listed renovations, replacements, and upgrades.