With Permission
The Walsh Intermediate School renovation and expansion project is moving ahead as the Board of Selectmen (BOS) unanimously approved an architectural firm and appointed four special members to the Public Building Commission.
Antinozzi Associates of Bridgeport was unanimously recommended by the Public Building Commission last week, and received final approval from the BOS Wednesday.
Town Engineer Janice Plaziak told the selectmen that the Building Commission recommended the firm out of four finalists, “keeping in mind that this was not just based on cost but also on qualifications and the fit for the project.”
Plaziak said the plans for Walsh are on schedule and that a meeting will be held next week to discuss the next steps in the process. “We’re shooting to apply for the state grants by the June 30 deadline,” she said. The Walsh project is expected to cost about $88.2 million, which could be reduced to about $55 million after state reimbursement.
Walsh was built in 1972 as an open-concept school with few interior walls. Proposals were made over the past several years to modernize the building and bring it into compliance, but none of those efforts succeeded.
The most recent feasibility study was conducted by DTC of Hamden; and Perkins Eastman Architects of Stamford. They listed four possibilities, including a hybrid option featuring renovation and expansion, which was the choice the town selected.
Expanding the Building Commission
The four new special members of the Public Building Commission are: Robin Goeler, John O’Connor, Kate Rebeschi and Robert Barnett. They will represent the “users interest” for the Walsh project and will serve as voting members for the school project only.
Goeler has been principal at Walsh since 2002, and served as assistant principal at Walsh since 1989. He also has 15 years of experience as a teacher.
O’Connor, a member of the Board of Education (BOE), is a retired educator with 30 years tenure in the Branford School District, including serving as a school psychologist at Walsh.
Katie Rebeschi is a math teacher at Walsh, and also serves on the coaching staff for the girls’ soccer and girls’ softball teams.
Barnett is a prestigious architect who and served as project manager for several nationally acclaimed projects. He has a child in the Branford School System.
The selectmen also unanimously approved the appointment of School Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez, and BOE chair Michael Krause as ex-officio members for the Walsh project. They will not have voting rights.
The Public Building Commission is also overseeing the proposed renovation and expansion of the Community House, which will create a new senior center. Temporary members for that project have not yet been appointed.
The town’s other major project — a new public works building — is still in limbo as the first selectman searches for a site.
Revising the Ordinance
The Representative Town Meeting (RTM) recently approved revisions to the ordinance for the Public Building Commission, which has five permanent members. The BOS may now appoint up to four temporary members to represent the “user’s interest” in a project. The previous language said two temporary members could be appointed. The phrase “no more than one of such temporary members shall be of the same political party” was deleted. That phrase was in reference to the previous two temporary members that were allowed. The revision says nothing about political party in terms of membership.
Wording was added to describe the temporary members qualifications — “any temporary member appointed shall be qualified by experience in the development, use or operation of the building which is the subject of the project for which he or she has been appointed.”
Additionally, the revision allows the BOS to appoint temporary ex-officio members to serve in relation to a specific project. The revised ordinance states that the chair of the Board of Finance (BOF) shall be a permanent ex-officio member of the commission as a whole. Ex-officio members do not have voting rights.
The project was unanimously approved by the Board of Finance (BOF) in January. The project has been called the largest bonding appropriation the town has ever made.
The RTM approved the project with a split vote in January with 17 Republicans voting yes, nine Democrats abstaining and one voting no. The Democrats expressed several concerns, including the fact that temporary members had not yet been appointed to the Public Building Commission for the school project.
Additional Appointments
The BOS made several other appointments, all by unanimous vote.
—James Ryan, a former member of the Board of Police Commissioners, was appointed to fill a vacancy left by the death of Robert Gott, term to expire Jan. 2019.
—Jane Bouley to fill a vacancy on the Green Committee left by Martha Bradshaw, as representative for the Academy on the Green.
—Maryanne Hall to fill a vacancy on the Green Committee left by Jane Bouley as representative for the Branford Historical Society.
—Frank Carrano to fill a vacancy left by John Lust on the Housing Authority.
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