Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 1/15/2024
GRANBY — The School Committee was visited by Selectboard Chair Glenn Sexton during its Jan. 9 meeting to discuss improving relations between residents and town officials as the latest budgeting season nears.
Superintendent Stephen Sullivan explained Sexton was invited to meet with the committee to open up conversations and understand where the district stands with the town in terms of budgeting. Sullivan said the district being more involved in the process would help fall in line better with the overall town budgeting process.
“It’s so the two sides can have an understanding of where each other are at early in the process,” Sullivan said. “The budget cycles there are always difficult decisions to make but I think they haven’t been adversarial or anything, we’ve been collaborative and so we’ve reached back out.”
Sexton said one ongoing task of Town Administrator Chris Martin at the moment was reaching out to an outside party for consultation on potential costs of for Granby Junior-Senior High School projects that have failed to get started in town the last few years.
School Committee chair Jennifer Bartosz said she felt there has been discrepancy between the public and the town due to concerns of where each dollar on each capital project directly went to. She asked Sexton if there was a way to better breakdown where the funding goes on these projects compared to the hit the town gets as it has caused confusion.
“Let’s say for instance the roof project — we spent $1 million but $400,000 of that million was actually mechanical work and our total hit was only $600,000 towards, so we didn’t need to wait for the whole million to come off, we only had to wait for the $600,000 to come off and that would have given us more to play with when we’re looking at some of the capital projects,” Bartosz explained. “I think we need to know actually how all of that works so that we’re comparing apples to apples and we’re actually looking at the right thing.”
Sexton said a lot of this took place when the town was looking at costs of the renovation of the kitchen inside the high school as well as renovation to the gym. Bartosz added in an instance like this, the $400,000 not needed could be better used elsewhere in town but there is a lack of communication that she hopes this discussion could be the spearhead in changing.
“It’d be nice to have where the Selectboard and Chris [Martin] sit on that and if we can see it in a dollars and cents way like, this is what we’re using for this number, this is why this number is, this is why we are saying yes, no or maybe so,” Bartosz said. “So when people come up and approach us we have something more concrete than just, ‘no because of ADA.’ Like we’re $300,000 away and the next project so we know where we’re actually at, and then we don’t have people saying things that are completely false.”
Sexton said he would follow up with Martin for more information to find exact figures and how they can apply to projects.
“It’s important that we’re working with the correct form,” Sexton said. “There may be projects that don’t costs that much that we could have that done and not wait an additional three years.”
Bartosz added, “Right, for instance if there’s something that’s mechanical and something that we need to do as a project that’s mechanical, that’s not going to count necessary towards that end requirement. That then allows us to look at things and what’s deemed mechanical and what part is actually maintenance and everything else because sometimes we’re looking at things with such broad strokes that it becomes easy to say we can’t because of ADA. At this point, I feel we really need to get to the point where we can look people in the face in the community and know what we’re actually talking about and there’s not this generalization out there.”
Sexton reiterated the town was looking to find an outside consultant group to help the town better identify their capital projects like these and better manage them to be more efficient in the use of the town funds.
“They would come in and say yes, you need to do A, B and C. You don’t have to do this, but you can do this. So, we’ve kind of talked about this before so we can have a really have a true idea of what we’re talking about and having a plan for a future, not just kicking the can down the road,” Sexton said. “If this is going to cost us x amount of dollars to bring us up to code, is it worth it to do this now and we would bring that to the town saying this is what needs to be done.”
Bartosz added focusing on improvement in this area would lead to the town being better equipped to manage around projects that may be halted due to ADA accessibility concerns.
“We could say, ‘Hey ADA compliance people, here’s our list we’re working toward this.’ Are they really going to shut us down as we’re working toward this and make us do everything at once if we have the list and we have a plan?” Bartosz said. “Maybe once we [receive some input on this] we can start looking to see if there’s grants that are available for certain types of different things and all so that’s exciting.”
Sullivan agreed with the plan to better identify priorities and breakdowns of funding for projects so they can be more efficient with the town dollar.
“I think that prepares us long term to say we have a list, now we have something we know we can look at, and if they can say, ‘You should prioritize this over this,’ that’s helpful because I think sometimes, we’re saying, ‘Are we prioritizing this because it keeps us under a certain cost?’ I think everyone recognizes there are a number of things that could be updated next door [at the high school], and it’s tough to sometimes say this should be the priority or that should, so having a professional come through and be able to give a punch list I think is a good start,” Sullivan said.
Bartosz said eventually she hopes this information can be easily presented and found on the town website for transparency and clarity.
“I was surprised with the special Town Meeting how many people were asking questions. It seems like there’s starting to be a little bit of a fundamental shift. People are starting to be aware that we can’t ignore next door forever and people are glad to see things moving,” Bartosz said.
Sullivan added that while the Student Opportunity Act should be touted for its improvements to education, including more money going to education than ever before the year prior, places like Granby were not seeing the same benefits from the new formula.
“The formula isn’t hitting us and that does leave a significant chunk on the local side of things and I think as the Student Opportunity Act has played out people have recognized it more and more, but its more of the gateway, urban cities that it’s really hitting and while more money is being pushed there, places like Granby it is not hitting,” Sullivan said. “And that’s why this dialogue is so important because it does end up falling on the local and that’s unfortunately just the way the formula has been set up.”
Sexton added to Sullivan’s point that town representatives should use their roles to reach out to state representatives and senators to garner support or a resolution from this new reality for communities like Granby. He closed the discussion saying he will have updates in the near future.