Question 4 approved by 2,098 votes

Date: 11/10/2008

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



LONGMEADOW The feasibility study that will determine whether Longmeadow will be renovating its current high school or building a new one became official with the passage of Question 4 last Tuesday, which approved the debt exclusion of the $750,000 the study may cost.

More than 700 residents approved the appropriation of the funds at the Special Town Meeting on Oct. 28, and 5,599 voters cast their ballots in favor of the debt exclusion last week; 3,501 voted against.

"Having nearly 10,000 voters show is amazing," Christine Swanson, chair of the School Committee and co-chair of the School Building Committe, said.

Although the appropriation of the $750,000 passed with a large majority at the town meeting, Swanson said she was still nervous about the ballot question.

"I was nervous because we didn't have a ballot question committee [to get the word out]," Swanson stated. "We hoped people would make educated decisions and they did."

She added that she was also "pleasantly surprised" by the margin with which the question passed.

"I thought it would be closer," she said.

An e-mail that Swanson sent out to supporters the day after the election stated that the victory demonstrated important things to her: that the town is committed to the future of the children in Longmeadow, that the town recognizes the tremendous opportunity before it and that Longmeadow is a community that "pulled together during the most trying of economic times and voted to support this initiative."

"This is a huge victory for the kids and the facilities they're taught in," Swanson told Reminder Publications. "The support crossed party lines and age barriers."

She thanked all those who voted in favor of Question 4 as well as Town Clerk Katherine Ingram and her staff of election volunteers for all their hard work.

The School Building Committee will be selecting their top candidate for the Owner's Project Manager position sometime this week, and will be meeting with the Massachusetts School Building Authority on Dec. 8.