Planning For Capital Projects

To the Editor:

During the 2008-09 school year a group of volunteers met almost every week to develop a new Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) process for the Newtown School District. The group consisted of people from a variety of backgrounds, including BOE members, district staff, parents, homeowners, people from the corporate world, and people running small businesses. They created a system that will add structure and discipline to what has been an erratic and problematic process.

Effective planning and management of capital projects is critical to the success of the school district and the town. Doing a poor job of the CIP process can result in facilities not being available when needed, or money being wasted on the wrong, inadequate, or unneeded projects. The new CIP process provides a clear and consistent structure for defining and evaluating proposed projects, by prescribing that these projects be identified well in advance and a project advocate be assigned to spearhead the request. The CIP request must have the need for the project clearly spelled out, a description and cost estimate for alternatives, a project plan, a detailed cost estimate for the execution of the project, and estimates of the ongoing costs or savings associated with the project. The new process also provides a prioritization rubric for consistently and fairly ranking multiple projects. In short, the new process is one that would be very familiar to anyone who has worked inside any large enterprise.

The standardized structure of the CIP project request makes it easy to publish and compare projects, addressing a chronic problem that has plagued the CIP process throughout the town: poor communications. The CIP requests could easily be posted to a website where they are readily seen by the entire town, fostering good discussion on the merits of future projects and what projects might be missing from the list.

Due to the nature of most capital projects, the CIP planning process inherently must be built from a multiyear perspective (the district plan uses a ten-year horizon). Although there are occasional emergency projects, there should be few surprise projects; most capital needs are the result of predictable growth and aging of existing equipment and facilities. A disciplined, transparent, and published CIP process will reduce the number of unexpected capital requests that have become all too common.

The CIP system though, can’t operate in a vacuum. The starting point for each capital budget has to be an overall strategic plan for the schools and the town. The strategic planning process proposed last week by Police Commissioner and IPN First Selectman Candidate Bruce Walczak is the right starting point.

The school district is currently implementing this process, but that is only half the battle. The same process should be adopted by the town for all capital projects. With a budget that is now expressed in nine figures, the town has really reached the size of a large enterprise and should manage itself accordingly.

William Hart

Member, Newtown Board of Education

24 Fawnwood Road, Sandy Hook                        September 9, 2009

(Mr Hart is running for reelection to the Board of Education on the Independent Party of Newtown slate.)