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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTown & School Needs Comm. 06/17/2024Town and School Needs Assessment Committee Meeting Minutes June 17, 2024 Present: Walter Wilk, Diana Bren, Jenn Walsh and Scott Feely RECEIVED CE.E Rf`,S OFFICE Also Present: Matt Violette, Ed Donoghue 2024 AUG 21 P b: 30 Not Present: Kevin Dumas, Teresa Murphy, Melinda Tarsi-Goldfien and Vivian r.:,�rl�h0 1. Open Meeting H, S T TS Mr. Wilk, Chair called the meeting to order at 6:18PM. 2. Review and Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes Motion: To approve the meeting minutes of April 1, 2024. (Walsh/Bren) Passes 4:0 3. Development of Ranking System for Projects and Timeline Mr. Wilk asked Mr. Violette to rank the Town projects and Mr. Violette stated that the Council on Aging facility was at the top of the list and that there was hope that the ARPA funding through the County would help fund the project, however the County has now stated that there will not be funding left because more applications have been submitted by communities. Ms. Bren commented that the Town has a short list and asked if there was anything else down the pipeline that should be considered. Mr. Violette responded that didn't know of any other items but could speak with Mr. Dumas. Ms. Bren wondered if there was anything at Town Hall like updating the bathrooms. Mr. Violette stated that the roof was a priority for Town Hall. Mr. Feely stated that it was important to not take any shortcuts with roofs or it will cost more down the road. Ms. Bren also asked if there were water upgrades needed because of all the water main breaks there seems to have been lately. 4. Beginning of Overview of Critical School Projects Mr. Donoghue stated that getting Roland Greene to the main campus is the biggest priority for the schools. Ms. Walsh stated that the consultants went from one extreme to the next in their study, but agreed with Mr. Donoghue that the priority is to get the pre-school students onto the main campus near the Robinson school. Ms. Walsh added that MSBA will not consider grant projects for a preschool so it would mean adding on to Robinson building. Mr. Wilk was concerned that some of the recommendations were to tear schools down and rebuild and that is confusing because there have been so many expensive upgrades to the schools recently. Mr. Donoghue stated that they had asked the consultants to cost out a new high school to have that price information so that they can explain that a new high school is likely to cost $172 million. Mr. Wilk asked what classes are at the Roland Green school and Ms. Walsh responded that it is special education program for preschool children, she noted that there are peer models that can pay to go there and enrollment is around one hundred students. Ms. Walsh stated that thinks the goal should be to have a plan for the next five to ten years. She didn't think they would be going to Town meeting next year for these projects and suggested wrapping the council on aging, recreation and upgraded school facilities into one plan. She said it would be important to present this to the Town and see what the feedback is. Mr. Feely recommended using the CIP methodology to provide the roadmap. Ms. Walsh stated that the School Committee has ranked all of the school projects and Mr. Wilk asked for her to bring that to the next meeting and asked that the Town also ranks their projects for the next meeting. Ms. Bren noted the importance of tying the projects to the Master Plan. Mr. Feely noted the importance of transparency. Ms. Walsh also noted that the Committee needed to reorganize because Mr. Schoonveld and Ms. Doherty are not on the committee now. S. Questions There were no questions. 6. Establish Next Meeting Date The committee decided to have the next meeting on August 19th at 6PM. Mr. Wilk then listed out the agenda items: a. Call Meeting to Order b. Review Minutes c. Reorganize d. Review of Town Projects e. Review of School Projects f. What timeline will look like g. Questions h. Any Items Not Known within 48 Hours i. Adjourn 7. Any Items Not Known within 48 Hours There were no items. 8. Adjourn Motion: To adjourn the Town and School Needs Assessment Committee Meeting of June 17, 2024 at 6:4913M. (Walsh/Bren) Passes 4:0 �A Signature Minutes prepared by Carrie Champagne �J2,�ZA Date