School, police station projects await go-ahead

The major town committees will get together tomorrow night to decide whether to present citizens with a double-header in the spring: two separate building projects -- a new $15.8 million middle school and a new $5.3 million police station -- each funded by a separate debt exclusion override of the taxation limits of Proposition 2.

The joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, Permanent Municipal Building Committee, and School Committee is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. in Town Hall.

At a similar meeting a year ago, the town leaders decided to delay going forward with the middle school and police station projects, both of which have been under discussion for years. They chose to delay "partly because of the economic situation and partly because they wanted to study the alternatives and make sure there was a unified approach to the capital projects," Town Administrator Timothy Goddard said in a telephone interview last week.

A Joint Committee on Building Construction was formed to study the costs and risks of further delay of either or both projects compared with starting construction as soon as possible. This ad hoc committee has completed its research and reported to the selectmen at their meeting on Dec. 22 that both buildings are unsuitable for their current use, that it would not be cost effective to repair them, and that further construction delay puts the town at risk legally and financially.

"The buildings will not repair themselves, and the costs will increase every year," Tom Rauker, chairman of the Permanent Municipal Building Committee and a member of the ad hoc committee, said at the meeting. "Every year we wait on these projects, we will have additional maintenance costs. Every year we wait, construction costs will go up."

The committee recommended going out to bid on both buildings in March and asking Town Meeting in spring to approve the expenditures. "The goal is to go to Town Meeting in May with bids in hand for both projects," Rauker said.

If the ad hoc committee's recommendations are followed, it will mean beginning two construction projects, even though questions remain about how to finish funding the new $24 million Littleton High School, which was built without passage of a debt exclusion. The loan for the high school has so far been repaid from savings in the Stabilization Fund and state reimbursement through the School Building Assistance program.

"We have $5 million in the Stabilization Fund," said Elaine Braun-Keller, chairman of the School Committee, in a telephone interview last week.

"How we will pay for the high school after it runs out is an open question and a subject of much controversy between the selectmen and the Finance Committee."

To prevent a similar situation with the new projects, they are being proposed as contingent on passage of debt exclusion overrides. "The Finance Committee has voted not to let these projects go forward without a debt exclusion, and I think the Board of Selectmen has concurred," Steve Venuti, Finance Committee chairman and a member of the ad hoc committee, said at the meeting.

"What they are not addressing is the high school," Braun-Keller said, "which is a little scary. They are going to endorse an override for these two buildings and deal with the high school separately."

The current middle school was built in 1957 and served as both a high school and a middle school until the new high school was completed two years ago. In his presentation, Rauker gave examples of problems with the middle school building, including a leaky and possibly unsound roof, restrooms in serious decay, and flooding in the boiler room. The new school would be built next to the existing building, which would then be torn down except for the gymnasium.

Rauker said a new police station would provide separate locker rooms and showers for male and female officers, a better layout for handling inmates safely, and office and meeting space.

Citizens have shown support for both the middle school and police station projects in several votes over the years.

Voters have approved design funds for both projects, and the designs for both are nearly complete. Several years ago, Town Meeting approved spending $13 million to build a middle school, according to Braun-Keller, although no funding source was specified. This vote enabled the project to get on the waiting list for partial state reimbursement at the 61 percent level.

In May 2001, voters approved spending $500,000 to purchase an old farm on Great Road west of Interstate 495 for the site of the new police station, Goddard said. The farm buildings on the site have recently been demolished.

The possibility of a Proposition 2 general override for the town's operating budget, in addition to the debt exclusion overrides, in the spring has not been ruled out. "It's too early to say definitively," Goddard said.

"The Finance Committee hasn't seen the budget requests from the departments yet. Anything and everything is on the table as far as the Finance Committee is concerned."

Sally Heaney can be reached at heaney@globe.com.