Finance Board Delays Hawley

HVAC Appropriation

By John Voket

The Board of Finance with two members absent July 9 opted to delay action on a special appropriation of $280,000 requested to cover professional services for the Phase 1 and 2 boiler replacement, HVAC, and related infrastructure work at Hawley School.

Finance board Chairman John Kortze suggested delaying the vote until the panel’s next meeting so the Board of Education could have an opportunity to discuss and possibly provide an endorsement of the sweeping improvements. The school board is not required to vote on the project, however, according to Public Building and Site Commission (PBSC) Chairman Robert Mitchell.

An optional third phase of the project, which was also recommended by the PBSC, would also complete bringing the school up to current conformity to the American’s With Disabilities Act (ADA), and with current fire safety codes, Mr Mitchell said.

Reaction to the project’s estimated cost came before Charles Boos of Kaestle Boos Associates and Brian Wetzel of Consulting Engineering Services (CES) began their presentation. Finance board member Richard Oparowski noted the town’s Capital Improvement Plan allocation of $6.1 million for the project did not compare to the latest multiphase estimate of $12.6 million if all ADA and fire safety systems were included.

Mr Boos stated during his presentation Monday, as he has in similar presentations to the PBSC, Legislative Council and school board, that adding these fire safety and ADA conformity measures would qualify the town for maximum state reimbursements.

He said little or none of the project would qualify for state funds if it involved just the renovation of the boiler and HVAC systems.

Mr Wetzel explained that the CIP earmarks, which came from an initial soft estimate of costs, was more of a placeholder figure and “did not get into this level of detail.”

Under questioning by Mr Kortze about which parts of the project are most essential, Mr Boos reiterated that completing the project as approved by the PBSC is the best way to handle bringing the facility up to code and conformity standards. First Selectman Pat Llodra also confirmed that today, Hawley School does not meet ADA compliance.

ADA Trigger

When asked by Mr Kortze if any of the base project would trigger a requirement to bring the entire facility up to compliance, Mr Boos said that the decision to use the opportunity to bring the building up to current specs would be a local one.

Public Building Commissioner Tom Catalina, who co-chaired the Hawley project subcommittee for the PBSC, said if Hawley School was to be closed for any reason, it would have to be brought up to code before being reopened for public use — and at a much greater cost.

Mrs Llodra added that requesting reimbursement would likely trigger a mandate to bring the facility up to code as a condition of receiving state funds. She then asked Mr Boos if the town committed to doing the first two phases of improvements, could it request state funding retroactively once or if it committed to doing the Phase 3 ADA improvements.

Mr Boos replied that as long as the town could demonstrate that local funding for Phase 3 was committed, the town could apply for reimbursement on the construction already completed or in its final stages.

“There certainly have been examples of that happening through special legislation,” he replied. “I think an argument could be made for that.”

The project manager also restated that state funding that might be awarded for each phase of the project should be applied for individually. Responding to the earlier comments from Mr Oparowski, Mr Boos said he thought the CIP earmark for the project was $7.2 million, and that the $8 million estimate for the base project was “very realistic,” and “just about right on target.”

“The project approach is not really different from the original CIP in its ultimate goal. All we’re doing is integrating the HVAC and heating as a vertical integration into each phase essentially to save the town money and avoid renovating the same room twice a year apart,” Mr Boos said.

Mr Catalina asserted that his commission asked the Phase Zero survey to “leave no stone unturned and give the town the biggest bang for the buck.”

“You can take a $5 million project that will return 80 cents on the dollar and cut it to pieces to a $3 million project that will get 40 cents on the dollar. One is smart spending and one represents bad spending,” Mr Catalina said. “We asked you to give us a project that really works, and that is going to be in the best interest of the town.”

No ‘Honest Number’

Finance board member Harrison Waterbury observed that the project has been on the CIP for more than ten years, and this is the first time the finance board has heard this level of detail.

“I don’t think there is an honest number out there to compare to,” Mr Waterbury said.

Mr Oparowski also said the school board was in the process of considering closing a school, and if it was appropriate to be discussing making such a sizable financial commitment to a school project.

When speaking to delaying the appropriation, Mr Boos said time was of the essence because to complete much of the work next summer, bids would have to be issued no later than next January.

Mrs Llodra agreed that the school board should at least have the opportunity to weigh in on the proposal to complete Phase 1 and 2 before moving forward on the appropriation. With that, the motion on the appropriation was withdrawn.

Mr Kortze said in view of what is likely to be a near flat municipal budget for the coming year, officials should consider the impact of the Hawley project on the CIP. He then introduced the idea that the town might consider a moratorium on bonding for some period of time.

“We are not in a pretty spot coming into this budget cycle,” Mr Kortze said.

Following the meeting, Mr Kortze said his board and the council should have a discussion since it appeared at this point that taxpayers were not willing to approve a budget that authorizes any increase in spending.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be talking about encumbering more debt or operational costs if we can’t get a budget passed,” he said. Mr Kortze also noted that the current budget proposal, if approved, reduces in real dollars the amount of bonding allowed under the ten percent borrowing cap.