The physical and environmental situation at the Sherman School is challenged. Built as numerous independent projects and renovations over the years, the infrastructure and supporting systems are complex, disconnected, and beginning to fail. This is simply the reality that we are facing as a town, and I, like many individuals and professional firms, have spent numerous hours walking through the school looking for ways to stop the bleeding with worthwhile near-term fixes. Unfortunately, while there are many ways to start a fix-as-you-go approach, the complexity of the patched together mechanicals and physical structures make simple repairs difficult and costly. An example is the closed K-wing which is one source of the significant environmental challenge at the school (the odor of which can be detected once you walk in the front door of the building). A knock down or disconnect of the k-wing might be considered an easy solution, but unfortunately the fire suppression system for the entire facility is at the far end of the k-wing which would require a complete replacement, relocation, and reconnection with other failing mechanicals. So now a knock down of the k-wing suddenly turns into a complex infrastructure project costing millions. There are many similar situations throughout the facility.
Most citizens are aware that there have been numerous evaluations on remediation options and none of them are low cost or minimally disruptive. I encourage everyone to view all of this information on our Town website (www.townofshermanct.org under the Government link at the top of the home page and in the Boards and Commissions section).
As we approach the October 5th referendum on this proposed renovate-to-new option, I would like to state I am appreciative of the “no voters” from the first referendum last fall, as a second look at this has lowered the original cost, further shrunk the building footprint, and allowed for special legislation at the state level to be passed to raise our reimbursement to 30%. A big thank you to our State Representative Pat Callahan and State Senator Steve Harding for their leadership on this!
I do believe the taxpayer burden from this project is significant. Fortunately, as a town, we are in a very good fiscal situation. The last few editions of the Board of Selectmen (who also act as the Board of Finance) have successfully lowered taxes, increased our surplus to an all-time high, proactively addressed town infrastructure issues with our capital plan, and successfully obtained grants to minimize spending where appropriate (i.e. STEAP). If approved, this project would add an approximate annual 2% increase each year for the budget years 2025-26 through 2030-31 (please see the analysis on the town website as it gives significant details and examples of impacts on ranges of assessed value). The analysis provided contains a very conservative contribution from our General Fund Balance ($500K) which helps lessen the impact. The analysis does not include any potential increases in the grand list or additional general fund balance contributions, which could also help mitigate the impact. All future mitigation options are decisions that will need to be made on a year-by-year basis by the Board of Selectmen in office at that time.
I do want to be clear that any project of this size has risks. All options that were reviewed, including new construction, repairing over time, and the current proposed renovate-as-new contain challenges and potential risks. The project has contingency built in and will need the highest level of oversight by the Building Committee and Town Officials to ensure it stays on plan and on budget.
The journey to where we are today as a community has been a long one. There have been numerous thought-provoking ideas and analyses on potential paths forward. I see and hear the passion in so many voices and I believe all have contributed to getting us to this point. It is important we respect our fellow citizens' opinions no matter how much we disagree with them, and maintain a civil approach to addressing all of our Town and School challenges. I believe we need a functioning school facility in our town, and the proposed option presented in the October 5th referendum presents the best path forward to achieve that. Please vote on October 5th as the most important part of any referendum regardless of the outcome is participation by all! As Thomas Jefferson stated a long time ago “We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”
