Hawley Project Heads Back To Finance Board

By Susan Coney and

John Voket

In a special meeting at the school district office Wednesday, Board of Education officials reversed an attempted end run around the Board of Finance to move a proposed $2.1 million increase in funding for a Hawley School renovation project directly to the Legislative Council.

The meeting was called after council Chairman Will Rodgers received a letter from School Superintendent Evan Pitkoff September 21 asking for the project increase to be put on the council’s agenda for its October 5 meeting.

On September 12, the Board of Finance rejected the school board’s request to seek the additional funds for the HVAC renovation and air conditioning project at the Church Hill Road school. Debt service for the project, which was originally proposed at $3.3 million in the schools 2003 Capital Improvement Plan, has already been budgeted.

In June of this year, the school board revised the project cost estimate to $4.5 million when engineering consultants suggested additional work be performed in the overall scope of the project. That estimate was adjusted again after the lowest bid for the project was tendered at $5.46 million on August 23.

Before the finance board voted against the measure, school officials and consultants were challenged to justify the need for such a significant increase when it appeared the scope of the project had only changed minimally between the original and first revised update. While finance board Chairman John Kortze said that rejection would not necessarily derail every component of the proposal, members of the finance board who opposed the increase said they could not justify allocating 30 percent more than taxpayers approved for related debt service in the last municipal budget.

School officials and consultants on the project argued at that meeting that transportation and fuel costs as well as the perception of possible material shortages on the part of contractors likely contributed to part of the increase. Finance board members countered that without hard numbers justifying the increase, they were loath to endorse the added spending.

This past Wednesday, at the special meeting, the school board voted to return with additional information when the finance board is scheduled to meet again on October 11, and to have Dr Pitkoff retract the request to appear before the council. However, school business director Ronald Bienkowski cautioned against promising any significant changes to the Hawley proposal as presented.

“This is not the time to reduce the scope of the project,” Mr Bienkowski said. “We had four good competitive bids.”

Mr Bienkowski said that any attempts to make significant adjustments to the scope of the plan to reduce costs, like possibly removing components of the air conditioning installation, would launch a domino effect among the various players in the mix that could further delay the project. He suggested that any mandated changes to the project would require a substantial amount of work for the bidders to readjust their plans.

“We’re rushing a job we spent a year on. We don’t want to come out with a mistake,” Mr Bienkowski said. “It would be extremely inefficient to take out air conditioning and then go back later and try to add it. We’re not going to gain anything.”

Board member David Nanavaty said that with costs for a pending high school expansion project still to be determined, the board should go forward with his earlier suggestion to take the Hawley project increase directly to the Legislative Council.

“I don’t think the Hawley project should be held hostage because we’re holding off to see the cost of the high school,” Mr Nanavaty said. “The high school expansion is banging on our door.”

Mr Nanavaty suggested that officials are fooling themselves if they think local project costs will not escalate further because of recent widespread destruction in the South resulting from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He maintained that any further delays in moving the Hawley project forward by returning again to the finance board would inevitably result in increased costs, possibly beyond the latest $4.5 million revision.

According to First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, the Newtown Town Charter stipulates that requesting the council take up the funding increase after the finance board’s rejection would be permitted. However, both he and council Chairman Rodgers have suggested the school board should work with the finance board to achieve a final plan that could be endorsed unanimously by all.

A letter from Mr Rodgers dispatched to Dr Pitkoff following the September 21 council meeting stated outright that if the school board did not exhaust all avenues to reach a consensus with the Board of Finance, the council would likely reject the proposal as well.

“I duly relayed that…your concern [in moving the matter directly to the council] was one of timing and possible expiration of bids, not merely a disagreement with the Board of Finance’s decision,” Mr Rodgers wrote to Dr Pitkoff. He suggested that if “there is time to return to the Board of Finance, that you do and retract your request that the matter be taken up by the council on 5 October.

“If you do choose to go forward on the 5th, and it is confirmed that at that time there was no pressing need to do so, your prospects for success in what is already an uphill battle will surely dim,” Mr Rodgers concluded.

Board member Paul Mangiafico said he agreed with Mr Nanavaty in spirit, but thought it would be a “big mistake to bypass the Board of Finance and go directly to the Legislative Council.” He reminded his associates that the finance board had provided relevant advice and guidance during a recent joint meeting between the two boards.

In final action, the school board voted to return to the finance board with answers to its members’ questions regarding the Hawley project and some level of explanation about the high school costs.