It was a sparsely attended meeting for the Whittier School Committee this morning, and maybe that was the intent behind scheduling the meeting on a Tuesday morning. But it was good to see local elected officials and residents there to ask questions and offer comments on why the proposal for a new school was shot down by such a huge margin. The common refrain was poor communication and questionable representation.
The Committee took quick votes on taking down a website and dissolving the current building committee. They then informed the crowd that we have ten business days to inform MSBA of our next steps, and then proceeded to schedule the next meeting for February 13, which, as one Newburyport resident noted, would be beyond ten days.
The last part of the agenda included public comments, and newly elected Haverhill Mayor Melinda Barrett pointed out how a new building committee should better reflect all communities. Good point, as few people I talked to even knew who was on the committee or how they were chosen.
This was echoed by others including Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove and City Councilor Steve Stangenelli who brought up the excellent point of Whittier better defining their mission and possibly looking into doing something about duplication. The point was not lost in the fact that we were discussing this in a vocational school auditorium, despite the fact that every community in the district already has schools with an auditorium.
The good news is that mayors and select board members met in an impromptu meeting after the official meeting adjourned and were discussing better funding mechanisms for whatever the next proposal would be. The consensus seems to be that Haverhill should be on the hook for a larger share of the funding needed for a new school, which makes a lot of sense when you look at the school’s Whittier enrollment and the average real estate taxes for a single family home.
The average bill in Haverhill is $5,155 whereas Georgetown, Groveland, and Merrimac come in well over $7,500. Amesbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury come in well over $8,500.
There’s still a lot of things up in the air including a sewer treatment plant that’s nearing the end of its useful life. If that fails the school gets shut down, but the big question is what happens if Whittier decides to fix or replace the treatment plant; does that trigger a code requirement to bring the entire building up to code with fire sprinklers and ADA compliance?
According to the code, any repairs or alterations that amount to 30% or more of the full and fair cash value of the building would require compliance, but one of my sources says that it’s based on the assessed value, which comes in at about $40 million. 30% of that is $12 million, which is just about what a new wastewater treatment plant would cost.
Haverhill has a sewer system but tying into it is expensive given how far away it is. Merrimac has a system that’s closer to Whittier, so tying in could be less expensive, but it’s problematic as Merrimac would have to allow a connection.
There’s no easy answers, but given how the SBA money is gone and we have to start all over from square one it makes sense to consider all options, some of which include finding a better location that’s closer to a sewer system, and not in a swamp.
Stay tuned!
I'm told Holy Family Hospital is closing operations soon. Maybe that building could be made into a new VoTech??? Not sure of cost retrofit, but worth time & effort.
Knew we could count on Sen Tarr. Rep. Kassner has been active too.
Had wanted to attend but had something in that time slot.
Did anyone from the Legislature attend?
I was told MSBA has the ability to use placeholders but chooses not to.
Was there any talk about a coalition among the 11 communities to lobby the Legislature?