Letter: Westport's new school situation smacks of bait and switch

Posted 6/5/19

To the editor,

Questions are being asked about what appears to be a bait and switch regarding Westport’s new Heart of the Community school project. It sure doesn’t look like we’re going to …

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Letter: Westport's new school situation smacks of bait and switch

Posted

To the editor,

Questions are being asked about what appears to be a bait and switch regarding Westport’s new Heart of the Community school project. It sure doesn’t look like we’re going to get the Taj Mahal we were sold with PowerPoint presentations, a 3-D scale model, and slick architectural renderings. 

I want to thank the School Building Committee co-chair for reaffirming that the Massachusetts School Building Authority approves a set amount of money, scope, and sequence when a town partners with them.

Westport received a $37.4M grant that is only paying about half of the eligible expenses determined by the MSBA. Notice from this report that construction estimates were $48.6M compared to $75M now and actual bids of about $85M. And this doesn’t include site preparation, infrastructure, athletic fields, engineering, and design costs.)

Is it mere coincidence that adding the other half of eligible expenses – the un-reimbursable half – to the pre-vote construction costs total approximately $86M? Since the other half must be added to the budget, why weren’t voters told this before they raised their hands in approval of a $97M debt exclusion at the Special Town Meeting, January 23, 2018?

Instead, forums, social media, coffee hours, mailouts, a deluge of letters in local newspapers all convinced taxpayers of a $58M irresistible bargain for a combined middle/high school project as they voted “yes” for a no dollar amount referendum on February 27, 2018.

And let’s not forget vilifying anyone who dared to mention the non-entitlement, discretionary, and need based (determined by the MSBA) details of the grant. Or that voters approved the full amount of $97M for the debt exclusion. Or that project costs exceeding the $37.4M grant will be the sole responsibility of Westport. 

Quite profitable for an architect and his team to keep re-designing for cost cuts when they have a pool of $97M, plus a contingency grant of $49.47 percent of eligible expenses ($37.4M).

Maybe the model school design that was voted down in spring of 2017 is starting to look more appealing, though not as lucrative for the architect. Maybe that’s why possible use of a model school design appeared in approved SBC minutes of their May 9, 2019 meeting. Maybe model school plans were submitted to the MSBA since budget, scope, and sequence had to be pre-approved before any grant was awarded.

Now that credibility of town officials, pro-new school volunteers, and Westport’s SBC seem to be justifiably in question, let’s just hope the project somehow gets finished before the money pool is drained.

Marilyn Pease

Westport

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.