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Date: 3/7/2023
AMHERST – As Amherst inches closer to an approval for a potential new elementary school, the Town Council approved a ballot question for a vote on debt exclusion for a special election on May 2 during its Feb. 27 meeting.
Background
The proposal for the new elementary school building would mean replacing the Fort River and Wildwood Elementary schools, combining the student population to one location. The building is anticipated to be a net-zero carbon emissions building by running on all electric power while also providing financially and environmentally friendly heating, cooling and ventilation systems. Along with the environmentally friendly accommodations, the building will also include windows and doors designed to allow more daylight into the building.
As the project stands the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) will be paying for 40 percent of the project’s overall cost while the town would be on the hook for 60 percent or roughly $55 million. In order to cover those costs, the town is looking for a vote on a debt exclusion which would allow the town to raise additional tax revenue to pay for the debt service for borrowing funds for the school’s completion.
The Feb. 27 meeting
To begin the Town Council’s discussion, Councilor Andy Steinberg discussed the work the Finance Committee did when addressing the language required for the ballot question.
“The statute that establishes the procedures for debt exclusion is very clear as to what the language is, and to the extent that it has some pieces that need to be filled in that the Massachusetts School Building Authority does that and is a very specific about what they are looking for,” Steinberg said.
He added that much of the committee’s discussion was about things they “wished they could add as additional because we realize this is highly technical language, but we cannot put anything on the ballot.”
Because the council cannot add language to the ballot ahead of the vote, Steinberg said the town would have to educate voters about the project in other ways.
Councilor Cathy Schoen noted that other towns have also followed the same language for similar debt exclusions, but the town is putting together a “simple” explanation.
“We had a discussion that for many people, you would read those words and go ‘excuse me?’ And so the staff is working on a ‘what this means is the following.’ So, a basic little information guide to this,” she said.
The council unanimously approved a motion to approve the ballot question requesting a proposition 2 ½ override for the purposes of borrowing for the elementary school building project for the May 2 special election.
Following the ballot question’s approval, the council was also required to vote to approve early and mail-in voting for the special election.
When council President Lynn Griesemer asked about the early voting schedule, Town Clerk Susan Audette clarified the schedule for early voting.
“The Board of Registrars recommended four days, a Monday through Thursday, normal business hours, which is what the law states we have to do. It’s changed multiple times throughout the years, so it depends on what the last day to register to vote. That’s when we would’ve been open until 8 [p.m.] but that has changed to 10 days before elections now,” she said.
Early in-person voting will take place April 24 through April 27 and Audette also noted that voting will take place in a meeting room down the hall from the Town Clerk’s office. She added that the state was waiting for the council to approve the date before the mail-in process could begin, but the town already has about 400 applicants interested in mail-in voting.
“I’m guessing by the beginning of April, hopefully sooner,” Audette said when referring to a when ballots would be mailed out.
When asked by Councilor Pam Rooney about mailing out information about the vote to residents, Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the town is not allowed to do that.
“The town can’t expend funds to influence the vote in any way, shape or form. We can put information on the website then advocate groups can take that and mail it to whoever they would like, but we can’t do promotional and whatever we put people can interpret as promotional,” he said. “We are not allowed to use taxpayer dollars to do that kind of thing.”
The council unanimously approved the May 2 date for the special election with early voting taking place the week of April 24.
Reminder Publishing previously reported on the school building project and more information about the project can be found here: http://archives.thereminder.com/localnews/amherst/amherst-committee-promotes-elementary-school-debt-/.
During the meeting, the council also approved a resolution to name the first Monday in March of every year as COVID-19 Victims and Survivors Memorial Day Resolution.
The Amherst Town Council next met on March 6 and coverage of that meeting will appear in the March 16 edition of The Reminder.