Sluggish School Facilities Review

May Delay Or Kill NMS Roof Project

By John Voket

The Newtown Middle School roof replacement project, which was scheduled to begin staging for completion in September, may now be delayed or possibly scrapped  altogether. And officials are laying part of the blame on an ad-hoc facilities review committee of the Board of Education for not completing its work and resulting report, which was  expected by the end of April.

But Board of Education Chairman William Hart told The Bee that while he expects  that committee to render some recommendations by the end of June, “the time to act is  now,” to initiate the roof replacement. Mr Hart said the project should begin as planned even if it means the town must pay back some or all of a state reimbursement sometime in the  future if the committee, and eventually the entire board of education support closing or repurposing the middle school.

Officials nonetheless expressed frustration because the review committee has been so slow to reach any conclusions.

“It would be easier for us to move forward and make decisions if we had that information and analysis from the board of education,” Mrs Llodra said June 15, two days after several Board of Finance members also expressed skepticism about the project.

First Selectman Pat Llodra said she will not sign a contract with the project’s low bidder until a joint meeting with selectmen, the boards of finance and education, the Public Building and Site Commission and Legislative Council convenes either Monday, June 20 or Thursday, June 23. This is because Mrs Llodra is unclear as to whether the middle school  will remain in service permanently as a public school facility.

Part of the charge of the facilities review committee, is to study whether it is practical or necessary for the district to close a school, or repurpose part or all of one or more of the currently occupied schools. Since the facilities review panel is still meeting, with no viable indication as to when an outcome report will become public, the first selectman has joined a growing number of officials who are becoming uncomfortable about moving forward with the planned roofing project.

Because there is no information about the future use or occupancy of the middle school, Newtown could be liable for repaying up to the full amount of a state reimbursement of $960,000 for the roof replacement if the building is closed or eventually repurposed.

According to a representative at the state Schools Facilities Unit, once the project is completed and the reimbursement is accepted, Newtown must commit to keeping the facility open and in use as a public school for 20 years. State Department of Education representative David Wedge said that the reimbursement comes with a 20-year amortization schedule of repayment which would take effect when and if the facility ceases to be used as a public school.

Mrs Llodra fixed the annual amortized cost at about $50,000.

“That means in five years, if the middle school is closed or repurposed, Newtown would have to write a check to repay the state for $660,000,” Mrs Llodra said.

Mr Hart, however, said that even if the town faces eventually having to repay part of the reimbursement, the roof project should commence without any further delay.

“Regardless of whether the Middle School continues to be used as a school or finds some other purpose in the future, the roof must be repaired,” Mr Hart said. “Ultimately the building will not be a viable facility for any purpose with a badly leaking roof.”

The school board chairman said that repairing the roof now will allow the town to receive roughly 30 percent of the cost back from the state. 

“Even if we may have to repay some of that money in the future, every dollar that we can get from the state is a dollar saved for the Newtown taxpayer,” Mr Hart insisted.

Council member Kathryn Fetchick, a former school board vice-chair, said in her former position she fought to get the roofing project done sooner than later, but as a current member of the facilities committee as a council representative, she is frustrated by the many delays in getting data to complete a report.

“As recently as our last meeting, we were expecting the Superintendent (Janet Robinson) to report on how we might move middle school students into Reed (Intermediate School). But she came with a report on closing an elementary school instead of the information we requested at an earlier meeting,” Ms Fetchick said, adding there have also been “many delays in getting review committee meetings scheduled.”

Finance board Chairman John Kortze said town officials “stepped back” to give the facilities review panel the space and time to do their work, but the few meetings that were held have failed to yield any useful consensus.

“We’re looking at a Capital Improvement Plan with a multi-million-dollar HVAC project for the middle school, and a multi-million-dollar HVAC project at Hawley School, and both of these school have been discussed as possible facilities to look at closing,” Mr Kortze said.

Mrs Llodra said the middle school roof replacement could go forward, but she would not sign off on the contract until all public and school officials involved were made aware and discussed the future financial vulnerability the town faces having to pay back the state project reimbursement if the school is eventually closed or slated for other uses.

The only out the town might have if it moves to close the middle school, would be repurposing it for another educational use or municipal function. But the town would have to issue a request to waive repayment of the state reimbursement, and the final decision would have to be made by the legislature – not the Department of Education.

“Receiving that legislative waiver is by no means automatic,” Mrs Llodra said. “It’s a risk, and we won’t issue a contract for the roof job until this development is discussed.”

The first selectman said there is a 50/50 chance the project may be put off another year or even scrapped completely and retooled in the CIP to merge the roof replacement with a planned HVAC replacement.

The move to do the roof and HVAC overhaul in a single project is supported by both the local building and site commission, and representatives of the project’s architect firm Kaestle Boos of New Britain.

Today, Mrs Llodra said, there is not enough money in the bonding authorization to do both, and that another $700,000 would be needed to complete the HVAC as part of the current roofing proposal.

And, she said, any move to increase the current project appropriation would mean cutting back or pushing out numerous other capital projects in the CIP already scheduled for the next three fiscal years and possibly further.

Mrs Llodra referred to comments made at a Monday finance board meeting, when Martin Gersten said he “didn’t trust the numbers,” being put forth by the architect for proposed HVAC options tagged onto the current project plan.

“Others are saying don’t do the HVAC because we may not be using that building as a school in a few years,” Mrs Llodra said. “Right now we have to stop and step back until there is some consensus on whether the project should go forward.”

Mr Hart countered that because of severe water leaks in that building over the past several years, he believes that it is unconscionable to ask students and staff to go through another winter without repairing the roof, and for the town to take such poor care of one of the Town’s most valuable capital assets. 

“A great deal of hard work has been done by a large number of people over several years to bring the project to this point,” Mr Hart said. “The time to act is now.”.