Costs Outlined for Major Building Projects

Two Representative Town Meeting (RTM) committees (pictured) weighing the $88.2 million price tag for the Walsh School renovations have agreed to take more time to decide on the town’s largest building project in history. Besides the Walsh costs, the committees heard for the first time about a projected $25.5 million for four other town projects, including the community house-senior center and a new public works garage. 

The Walsh project was initially fast-tracked to the RTM, the town’s legislative body as education officials pressed to get a complicated package to the state by the end of June so that the process of funding reimbursement to the town gets underway. But after a three-hour meeting last week, the two RTM committees, Ways and Means and Education, postponed their vote. They unanimously re-referred the Walsh financing issue, saying it would be heard either at or before the full RTM meeting this Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Fire Headquarters. The item is on the RTM agenda and a full presentation of the Walsh plan is expected. 

In opening the RTM committee meeting, Rep. Peter Black (R‑3rd), chair of Ways and Means, told the audience that ​“it is important we take our time.” This was the first indication that the leaders of the RTM intended to educate the 30 legislators on the RTM about what the chair of the Board of Finance called the largest project ever undertaken in the town’s history.

“Walsh is the single biggest appropriation I can recall,” Black said. ​“It is Important we take our time … we might not act on this until our February meeting,” he added, stepping back from what was originally billed as a whirlwind eight-day working schedule to approve the project.

Other Projects Unveiled

At the meeting last Wednesday the two RTM committees also heard from town Finance Director James Finch (pictured), who presented the costs for four major projects, including the renovated community and senior center whose plans have been outlined and a new public works garage, whose location is yet to be announced. The costs for these projects would mean a projected town budget increase of 2 to 3 percent. 

It was not revealed how these numbers were arrived at, but Finch said the costs for a renovated and expanded community and senior center would be about $8 million, a new public garage would cost $10 million, the Blackstone Memorial Library renovation is $4 million, and the John B. Sliney Elementary School improvements will cost $3.5 million. Add $13.9 million for contingency and $350,000 for FEMA mitigation and the total is $99.4 million in bonding via different methods.

The overall $99.4 million for the new projects assumes the state pays an estimated $30 million toward the projected $88.2 million for Walsh. The $30 million projected state grant is the figure the architects arrived at, they said at the meeting. But that figure, they added, could go up or down.

This was the first time the town’s legislative body had heard first-hand from school officials and the architects about the school renovation and expansion and the costs for the other town projects. 

Republican Frank Twohill, chair of the RTM education committee, asked Finch about the impact of the school projects and the other projects on the taxpayer. 

Finch noted that many factors, including union contracts drive the overall town budget and that the impact of the proposed financing plan on Branford’s annual debt requirement is about 7.5 percent of the overall budget. Like BOF chair Joseph Mooney, Finch noted the potential negative factors that could have an impact on the town’s ability to fund the increased debt service requirements, factors that could effect the cost projections. These include an economy that falls into recession, reductions in the net taxable Grand List, reductions by the state, under-funding state mandates, and unanticipated capital needs.

At one point Finch observed that “$100 million seems like a tipping point,” the number when people say ​“oooh.” Finch also noted that these projects never get cheaper ​“in the future.”

The Board of Finance (BOF) on Jan. 4 unanimously approved a resolution to bond the $88.2 million renovation, expansion, and transformation of the Walsh school, the largest bonding appropriation the town has ever made. The school is expected to be completed in 2019. The BOF meeting was held at Fire Headquarters and was televised for the town’s BCTV public access station. The RTM committee meetings were held at the Community House and were not televised.

School Officials Speak

School Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez, (pictured) told the RTM committees that the design and architecture group has been studying Walsh for a year. They found Walsh to have ​“good bones” and also found that the school had been maintained at a high level. ​“But the functionality of the building is not what it needs to be for our children,” he said.

He said construction of sections of the building would occur when the school is in session and is not. The students, grades 5 to 8, would not have to be displaced. ​“They will remain where they are.” He also said that safety standards will be put in place that are not in place now, adding those safety changes could be discussed in executive session.

He said new bus and parent drop-off routes would be developed, each having a separate route for the first time.

RTM Members Weigh In

This was the first time the town’s legislative committees heard first-hand from school officials and the architects about the Walsh plan, which while discussed at the Board of Education (BOE) level for months, had yet to be presented to the RTM, which under town ordinance signs off on the funding.

It became clear during the three-hour meeting that a number of RTM members, both on the two committee and in the audience did not know much about the Walsh project, how state reimbursement works, how long the building is expected to last, and how the figures for the other projects were arrived at.

For example, Rep. Josh Brooks (D‑2) wanted to know how the Sliney school $3.5 million figure was arrived at.

“Where did this number come from? What happens in 10 years when you need to rebuild Sliney and it is now $22 million? What I see is a plan that is purely conceptual. What if outside events arise, he said, referring to the hurricane-related costs in recent years, ​“and the 7.5 percent bond increase rises to 9.4? I don’t hear what if? What if this happens? I haven’t heard a thing about that. My point is the unexpected happens all the time,” he said. ​“I haven’t heard anything about that.”

At one point Brooks raised the issue of what happens if the town needs to bond an additional $5 million.

First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove, who was seated in the audience, answered his question. ​“We knew we had a number of capital projects coming up,” he said, adding they would be bonded out over a number of years. He said the hypothetical $5 million increase Brooks was describing was not going to move any one project one way or another. ​“I don’t see that adding a significant factor. You finance it over five years,” he said.

Twohill asked how much of Walsh would be old and how much new. The answer from the architects was that about 50 percent would remain old and 50 percent would be new. ​“But everything will look like new,” the architect added. 

Maryann Amore, (D‑4), an RTM member who sits on the education committee, wanted to know if the public would be able to use parts of the Walsh building. The answer to that was yes, especially the use of the auditorium. ​“The community will have better access to auditorium,” Michael Krause, BOE chair, said. 

Lisa Ahern, (D‑1), a new Democratic RTM member who sits on Ways and Means, asked a series of questions on the town’s accountability for so large a school project. ​“Who will be in charge?” she asked, asking if that duty fell to the town’s building commission, a group of five volunteers. ​“Can five people do all that work?” she asked. Cosgrove noted that the project would have a construction manager and an owner’s representative to oversee the project.

Ahern said she understood the difference. But in the end what was the town’s responsibility regarding an $88.2 million project. ​“This is a huge project,” she said. ​“Can that building commission handle the school project and all the others?”

Ahern said she understands the RTM must approve the project but she wanted assurances of accountability from the town. ​“I know what I have given the money for. To make sure it happens, though we need to have experts working on it. That is my concern. I want specifics about that. What is the expertise on the building commission? I want to hear something about that at the RTM meeting, ​“she said. 

At that point, Joe Banks of the Perkins Eastman architecture firm in Stamford, said, ​“The Board of Education has final control over it. They have authority over the project.” In addition, the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission signs off on the project though it has a minor role in the process, he added.

Ahern’s husband, Selectman Jack Ahern, attended the meeting. Ahern, the town’s former fire chief, raised a series of questions about the Walsh project as well. Here Cosgrove turns to listen to him. 

The school board announced last month that it had sent out requests for quotations for the Walsh project.
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