Minutes
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE TOWN COUNCIL
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Barrington Town Hall Council Chamber
Present: President Carl Kustell, Vice President Rob Humm and Councilman Cloutier
Also, Present: School Committee Chair Patrick McCrann and Town Clerk Meredith DeSisto
Absent: Councilwoman Berard, Councilwoman Conway and Town Manager Phil Hervey
President Kustell called the meeting to order at 6:08pm
President Kustell stated that at the regular meeting of the Town Council on Monday February 5th, School Committee Chair Patrick McCrann, and Vice Chair TJ Peck along with representatives from Tecton and Downes gave a presentation on RIDE State II Services (see attachment via Barrington Clerkbase). He said that there was some miscommunication as to whether the School Committee needed to be on the Council agenda for this past Monday night but we rectified that with a discussion only at that meeting and announced that a special meeting will be held with an additional discuss and act with this evening’s meeting. He said a vote will be held tonight about the necessity of School Construction Stage II application.
President Kustell said that this is not a vote to spend money but a vote to let this application go forward and meet the state deadline of February 15.
President Kustell opened the PUBLIC COMMENT:
Representative Jennifer Boylan, 140 Lincoln Avenue, said that she has reviewed the 2500-page document in a very cursory way. Her concerns and questions are about environmental issues. She said that in her reading of the document she did not see that solar panels will be on any of the buildings, she did not see that renewable energy was part of this plan. She saw some environmental infrastructure for the primary schools, but nothing for the high school. She said she saw something called variable refrigerant flow systems, which she thinks are electric heat pumps for heating and cooling. But she also saw gas powered boilers. She said that her concerns are that we are going to be investing in buildings that are going to be around for 50 to 70 years. She said that the time for kicking the climate change can down the road needs to be now and to actually do the things we talk about doing she is hopeful that it can still be in there (plan). She questioned if there is any flexibility. She said that she expressed concerns before the bond was approved. She questioned whether this can still happen or are we limited to what is in this plan.
Senator Pam Lauria, 59 Martin Avenue, said she mirrors Representative Boylan’s concerns regarding the environment. She said that her question is, who approves the bond counsels plan. She said that her understanding is that at the Budget Forecasting meeting last week, the plan was announced that it was going to separate the bond into five parts, which is not what the people thought they were voting on, and how that does not come or comes to the Financial Town Meeting.
Maura McCrann, 4 Woodford Road, said regarding bond counsel and watching the COA meeting, it sounds like from their input, it is going to save the taxpayers a lot of money to not borrow money before we need it. She said that she knows this has nothing to do with any of you but thought she would mention it. She said that they have talked a lot about the resilience and climate piece, days before we submit Stage II. She said that this is not the time, obviously, to manage many of those things. She said hopefully you will put this forward regardless that they will continue to make design changes as they go through this process.
School Committee Chair McCrann said that he appreciates the opportunity to come before the council again. He said that he appreciates the representatives showing up my kids would call this is a cannon event for those of you in the know, an important milestone, and he appreciates the attention on how we are doing business across the board, which is why this entire process to date has been open and transparent as possible.
SC Chair McCrann said there has been great questions about how the project evolves. He said that his counterparts also questioned how much flexibility do we have left. He said that what we are telling the state is that we have four buildings we are working on, this is the amount of work that we want to do. This is literally a two-page document that says this is how much money we want to spend on each of those schools. And this is our plan for what we are doing. He said that this allows the state to zoom in going through the document, understanding exactly how we are going to be implementing those changes, the school committee as it stands now, not the building committee, but the school committee is making sure that we are making decisions academically that support the programs that we have in place that support the CTE programs that support the needs that we have identified from our students and teachers, etc. He said that there are a lot of needs and from our studies with our consultants and$250 million, as large as it sounds, doesn't even come remotely close to the needs that we have across all of our buildings. He said that we remain the only district in Rhode Island that is trying to be as strategic as possible to use these funds to help all of our buildings as opposed to just invest in a single building like a high school. But with that comes challenges and the school committee will have a difficult choice going forward. As we move through different options, which is part of the proposal, you heard the alternate option of how do we allocate that money going forward and where do we want things to go.
SC Chair McCrann said we have incredible needs with the special needs programs at the high school level. We have incredible needs at our elementary schools that are blocked, we have six modulars right now at Primrose to house the students that have been learning in a gym for years. We have additional curriculum challenges like our teachers, working in closets and one bathroom for 73 staff people in a single building. He said that our infrastructure is in a tough place and quite frankly, on a personal level, he is hoping that our infrastructure makes it to the time that we start the construction so we can have a seamless experience for all of our constituents and taxpayers that things work.
SC Chair McCrann said that the financial documents that accompanied that proposal are prepared by the town financial advisor and bond counsel. The school committee makes no funding decisions other than deciding to pursue this project and do the work required to achieve the reimbursement from the state which we have done to date so far. And we hope, by mid to end of May, we will have recognition on that and we will get that complete full reimbursement as promised by RIDE. He said we can return to the taxpayers and let them know that we are going to spend the money effectively as we go forward.
SC Chair McCrann said at this time, the financial planner and bond counsel has said that we do not need to bond for all the money upfront. He said that would be irresponsible financially for the taxpayers of Barrington and that there is more strategic ways to do it. Their proposal to us involves staging that funding so that we can reduce the impact, save additional money, and make this proposal a net win for the Barrington taxpayer. He said that we will get better educational services, a tax rate that's amenable to as they go through the process of experiencing those educational benefits. And said SC Chair, we as a community remain one of the leading communities in New England in terms of our educational services, experiences, and infrastructure. Hopefully we get up to that certain level.
SC Chair McCrann said that the schools are open to hearing from town councils and the town’s solicitor, the financial aid adviser and bond counsel if they have additional strategies that they feel are important, or if there's certain elements of the financing plan that need to be revised and updated, making sure that we are all up to date. He said that we are certainly open to it.
SC Chair said that we remain committed to this process and appreciate your vote tonight to move this forward. He said that we are trying to make sure that our programs are in alignment, that we have all of our ducks in a row, and that all the preparations are in place. He said that we want to make sure that we can actually be awarded the funding and the money that the voters of Barrington approved and authorized in November.
SC Chair McCrann thanked every for their continued support through this process. He said that having this meeting seven days before the deadline, and that he has realized it has put the Town Council in a unique spot, and he will take ownership of that. He said that he appreciates the willingness to continue to help us move forward in the best interests of Barrington making sure we have a complete application.
President Kustell said that he wanted to note that we, essentially by going through this process, that we went above and beyond the normal OMA requirements by having multiple public comment before the vote.
President Kustell closed public comment.
President Kustell said that this vote tonight is, in my view fairly pro forma. He said that we are not spending money tonight. He said that 63% of Barrington voted for this. This is a necessity of school construction application. He said he thinks there is no question there is necessity for school construction which has been pre-approved by the voters. He said that there has been talk online suggesting that we could take some kind of a different route on this, but he said he does not see it as a viable option right now. He said we have to go forward, it is absolutely necessary, the voters want us to go forward, the town wants us to go forward. He said that this is fairly non-controversial and furthermore, were we to demand any changes in the application, at this point, or architectural changes or engineering changes at this point, although he is fully supportive and has repeatedly said that he is for renewable energy, solar for whatever we can do to make these buildings as efficient and climate friendly as possible. But he said we could not expect the school side to come back within seven days after talking to engineering and their counsel with a plan that we would then approve or disapprove of next week. He said that it needs to move forward because they have a deadline of February 15.
Vice President Humm said that he shares the same thoughts that President Kustell mentioned with respect to renewables. He said that he asked the question at the Monday meeting, a different subject, but along the same lines for the high school gym.
Vice President Humm questioned that by submitting this application, are we precluded from making any changes; and the answer was no.
Councilman Cloutier said thank you to everyone who is currently here. He said that he appreciates the fact that we have had a few nights to talk about Stage II. He said that he understands, as President Kustell said, that the voters did approve up to $250 million as a bond. But he said from his understanding, it was that the taxpayers, the people who voted us to be on the town council would have additional opportunities for input regarding the money that will be spent and from what has been floating around from what he has been reading and what he has been hearing, that does not seem to be the case. He said he wants to make sure that it will still be the case. He said that he wants to assure anybody's fears that we are still being transparent. He said he wanted to make sure that people still feel that they are involved. Because, he said, this is not just our money that we are spending, we are spending a lot of people’s money. He said he wanted to put forward that fact and said that he is in support of Stage II for submission. But he said he wanted to make sure that people's voices feel heard and that we acknowledge the fact that there was a tight turnaround. He said that we put something on our agenda for Monday and while there was a moment for public comment that there weren't too many people who were able to be here to speak about it. And as we sit here, now, there are six people sitting in the audience. And so that just doesn't speak to our transparent nature, doesn't speak to wanting to have everybody involved in the process. He said that he understands that we are on a tight timeline, and he said he understands that we would throw a wrench in the process if we were to do anything other than move this forward. But he wanted to call it out for what it is and the feelings that people may be having, because we represent our neighbors. He said that he is going to vote for the Stage II submission, but he wanted to make sure that those thoughts were on paper.
President Kustell said fair enough, of course, if we had voted on this on Monday night, it would still be a tight timeline given the February 15 deadline. He said that we do have unanswered questions, given that you have construction contingencies, given that you have financing contingencies, that is built into the process. He said it actually is an advantage because it allows you to have the flexibility to address matters that come up as we go. It may be falling interest rates, it may be cost of construction, it may be other needs that we realized through the process at the school committee and that they realize through the process. He said that he understands that is something that leads to a level of uncertainty among some residents and that is certainly understandable. But he said at the same time, it allows the school side to adapt and make the moves that they need to make to have the most effective construction and the most efficient process, not only process, but the financially most efficient route that they could possibly have to go forward. He said that he thinks that is an advantage as long as the process continues to be transparent, which it has been, and we have had a series of public meetings, that is really on our side, and many more on the school side.
Motion by President Kustell and seconded by Vice President Humm to approve the Necessity of School Construction Stage II application as presented. The motion passed 3-0-0-2, in favor, President Kustell, Vice President Humm, and Councilman Cloutier, no one opposed, no recusals and two (2) abstentions, Councilwoman Berard and Councilwoman Conway (both were absent).
Motion by Vice President Humm to adjourn the meeting at 6:24pm.
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Meredith J. DeSisto, CMC
Barrington Town Clerk