At its latest meeting March 29, the Legislative Council voted to send three bonding authorization requests for big ticket capital projects to referendum on Tuesday, April 25.

The Board of Selectmen subsequently approved all three at its April 3 meeting, and the Board of Finance also approved the measures in a Special Meeting the following evening.

The projects are $1.2 million for an HVAC replacement at Newtown High School including design and installation; $450,000 for HVAC design work at Newtown Middle School; and $1.55 million for roof remediation and replacement at the Municipal Center.

Those three projects will face consideration by voters along with the proposed 2023-24 municipal and Board of Education budgets. The proposed spending plans were expected to face final review and approval from the Legislative Council at its April 5 meeting; the outcomes of that meeting were not available at press time.

Polls will be open from 6 am to 8 pm at Newtown Middle School.

At the April 3 selectmen meeting, Selectman Maureen Crick Owen questioned putting the design for a project to referendum instead of the whole project. First Selectman Dan Rosenthal responded that it had been the practice for the past several years, and it had been something Councilman Ryan Knapp had pushed for.

“The thought was that if the public is not in favor of the design, they are probably not in favor of the project,” said Rosenthal. “They can still reject the project later, but that is less likely.”

The selectmen had some discussion regarding the Municipal Center roof, with Rosenthal noting “it should be well within budget.”

The roof is mostly original to the building. When it was renovated to be the Municipal Center, there was some talk about replacing the roof but it was rejected at that time. As a result, only a couple strategic sections of the roof were replaced at the time.

“The reality is that we got another 15 years out of it,” said Rosenthal. “It’s held up well.”

Rosenthal said that there is some remediation that needs to be done as there are asbestos tiles.

The Middle School HVAC project is needed because, as former Board of Education Head of Maintenance Bob Gerbert noted at a January council meeting, the middle school has “limited HVAC,” with rooftop units in A wing and E wing, and ductless units in the cafeteria and media center.

There are heating and ventilation systems in the cafeteria and two gyms, and the first selectman also noted complaints of mold growing in D wing.

While labeled HVAC in the CIP, the project is primarily a ventilation and air quality project. Gerbert said ventilation is reliant on windows and “what comes in naturally” in schools using baseboard heat.

He agreed with Knapp that there are ways to address ventilation without a full ducting system.

The council considered placing a fourth project, $800,000 for an HVAC project at the C.H. Booth Library, but the motion including that proposal was withdrawn. Rosenthal recommended the council wait to submit that request to voters until the November referendum.

“They just interviewed the engineering firm for design work,” said Rosenthal. “They have money from a prior approval. That work has to happen; I think the numbers are probably good. But sending this to a referendum now may prematurely set a number [to the cost of the design work] that we may regret later. It’s premature to put this to a vote in April.”

Knapp agreed, saying the engineering firm would then know they don’t need to come in any lower for the cost of the design work and that the November vote would likely have a larger turnout providing greater input from voters.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.