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Date: 9/21/2022
PALMER – The Palmer Town Council met to discuss various agenda items including recent election turnout and an emergency masonry project at Converse Middle School during their Sept. 12 meeting.
According to Town Clerk Susan Coache, 1,160 people voted in the recent state Primary Election. Coache said that, of this number, 486 people voted in person and the rest were mail-in and early voting.
For November’s General Election, there will be early voting for two weeks. Voting cards will be going out to registered voters in the mail as well.
Coache said that the town currently has 9,152 registered voters and the deadline to register to vote is Oct. 29.
Town Manager Ryan McNutt also gave an update on a recent emergency masonry project at Converse Middle School. According to McNutt, structures outside of the school began deteriorating and were becoming a public safety hazard. He chose to move forward in fixing this, which cost over $54,000 from the stabilization fund.
Members of the Town Council, including President Barbara Barry, voiced their concern that McNutt had the work done without their prior knowledge or approval, especially given how expensive it was.
“I understand having to fix something that is a hazard, but this repair went beyond fixing the hazard,” said Barry.
She reiterated that it should have been up to the Town Council to decide whether or not to appropriate the funds. McNutt mentioned that he noticed the deteriorations around Memorial Day and the work wasn’t done until July, which Barry also questioned.
“It was a hazard to the public. I was more concerned about someone getting hurt and I didn’t know how much this was going to cost when we started doing it, but masonry work is expensive,” said McNutt.
Despite the council’s issues with the situation, the repairs had already been completed and the funds were approved to pay the masonry company.
During his Town Manager’s Report, McNutt also discussed plans to bring in an architect to Converse Middle School and give a general code review. He said this is similar to what other towns have done and that this process will help the council decide what they can do with the building.
Possible future uses for Converse Middle School are a senior center, school administrative office or community center. McNutt said the architect will come in and give a code review and provide information on all of these potential uses.
He said he is speaking with architects this week about the project and will bring more information to the council soon.