Tuesday, December 11, 2012
School board election held to fund roof repairs and replacements.
This story was updated at 2:57 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12 to include comments made by Westfield Board of Education President Rich Mattessich. The hotly-debated $13.6 million bond referendum to fund district-wide roof repairs and replacement passed Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2,700 to 1,503, with 19 percent of voters casting their ballots. Work on Westfield High School's roof, which carries the most expensive price tag – an estimated $4 million – and is in the worst shape, with 83 percent requiring removal and replacement, is expected to be completed during the summer of 2013. Work on one other school is also expected to be completed during the same time frame. The remaining buildings will be worked on during the summer of 2014. In September, residents …
Polls close at 9 p.m.
Voter turnout is mixed across Westfield as residents are asked to cast their ballots for or against a $13.6 million bond referendum that would fund roof repairs and replacement on 12 Westfield school district-owned buildings. While voter turnout is typically low for school board elections, Westfield's Sept. 24th election in which residents soundly defeated a $16.9 million bond referendum that would have funded both the roof work and a lighted turf field, saw an uncharacteristically-high 24 percent of residents head to the polls. Patch surveyed six polling locations throughout town Tuesday afternoon and found a wide-range of answers when asking poll workers, "How is voter turnout today?" Poll workers at the Westfield Memorial Library said …
Monday, December 10, 2012
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m.
After months of debate, Westfield residents will have a chance to cast their ballots tomorrow, Dec. 11, for or against a $13.6 million bond referendum that would fund repairs on more than three-quarters of the school district's roofs. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. In September, residents voted against a $16.9 million bond referendum that would have covered those repairs as well as paid for the installation of a lighted turf field at Westfield High School. Following the defeat by a 2:1 margin, Westfield Board of Education members said they "heard" voters and on Oct. 21 unanimously approved a referendum that does not include a turf field but will account for the full cost to replace and repair the roofs of the 12 district-owned …
Friday, December 7, 2012
Richard Mattessich says "we can't afford... to simply harp on the past."
- OPINION
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Friday, December 7, 2012
On Tuesday, December 11, 2012, voters will be asked whether they want to fund a bond referendum in the amount of $13.6 million for roofs. Many in the community agree with the Board of Education that roofs are a necessity and understand that they need to pay for them. There is disagreement over how roofs should be paid for – bond referendum or reallocation of the existing operating budget. What we really can’t afford to do right now is to simply harp on the past. My view, and I have stated it many times publicly, is that we need to bond the roofs today, and we need to make sure we don’t find ourselves in the same position the next time roofs (or other large projects) need replacement. Let me explain those two positions. First – we need to …
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Margaret Dolan says reduction in revenue coincides with increasing enrollment.
- OPINION
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Thursday, December 6, 2012
On December 11, voters in Westfield will have the opportunity to decide how they want to finance the cost of replacing the majority of outlived roofing on our school buildings. A bond is a mechanism by which state, municipal and school bodies fund large capital expenses. This bond referendum before voters will spread the cost of the roofs over 20 years. Current low bond interest rates make this a favorable time to issue bonds. The tax impact to the average homeowner is estimated at $31 in 2014. Thereafter, the tax impact actually will decrease due to other bonds which will mature and be fully paid. The bond referendum has been reviewed by bond counsel and meets all legal requirements. Roof concerns have been discussed at public Board of …
Pro-referendum letter to parents shows bias, resident asserts.
- OPINION
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Thursday, December 6, 2012
How does the BOE justify the use of public assets and the subterfuge of sending its pro-referendum letter to all the schoolchildren parents through its principals? The failure of the Board to publicly send out notices to every registered voter is reprehensible. BOE elections are notoriously low turnout. Special elections are also low turnout. To mobilize only the parents and remind only the parents is a biased act unto itself. To threaten dire results to be borne by the children of those parents borders on extortion. The Board has known for years that various roofs needed repair. They used the money in the budget for maintenance for other things or didn't include money for those repairs in the next budget. They now are faced with the …
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
BOE vows district roofs will be fixed, whether Dec. 11 referendum passes or not.
The Westfield Board of Education has made it clear that, within the next several months, the district will take the necessary steps toward replacing a substantial portion of the roofs on all district buildings. Over the next 14 days, the residents of Westfield can make a final decision on how the district will pay for those repairs. After 10 months, a dozen public presentations and countless hours of planning and number-crunching, the oft-discussed roof repair issue will have a more definitive future after a Dec. 11 bond referendum is decided. Board members have stressed that the capital project has reached the level of district necessity, with the only remaining issue being how the town decides to fund the $13.5 million investment. “…
Friday, September 28, 2012
Longtime resident and volunteer says he was honoring the wishes of the Board.
- SCHOOLS
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Friday, September 28, 2012
For some reason there were a number of people waiting to hear my comments after the Bond vote Monday evening. As I stated to the reporters at the time I was letting our President and Superintendent do the talking. Nobody silenced me- I chose to honor their wishes and let them respond post mortem to the defeat which, I believe was the right thing to do . The fact of the matter is that the citizens of Westfield spoke loud and clear with nearly a 3-1 margin against the referendum. The Board will be meeting next Tuesday and publicly discuss the facts and begin the work on how next to proceed. There are two realities though- The town spoke loudly not wanting this referendum as it was offered and the more pressing reality is that we have serious…
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Twenty-five percent of residents came out for the vote.
Updated: 12:08 a.m. Westfield voters have spoken and in a surprisingly large turnout for a school board election the $16.9 million bond referendum was defeated 3,874 votes to 1,508. The Westfield Board of Education proposed the single bond referendum in order to fund two multi-million dollar capital projects—district-wide roof repairs and a lighted turf field. The proposal drew the ire of some Westfield residents who viewed the repairs as a necessity and deemed the field a luxury. Edgar Road resident Scott Robb opposed the synthetic turf field not only because of the traffic, noise and lights he believed would accompany it, but also because he did not agree with the bundling of the two projects. "Obviously, we, along with all the …
Election results broken down by ward.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
See the attached document for the unofficial results of the 2012 Board of Education Special Election. Westfield Town Clerk Claire Gray said the official results are usually the same and should come from the County Clerk’s office within a day or two.
Doogie Howser
11:21 am on Thursday, December 13, 2012
20-yrs from now when the roofs again need a full replacement, I would expect this to be bonded again. Capital improvements are not supposed to be paid for and expensed in a single year's operating budget. Why should today's taxpayer have to fund 100% of something that benefits the community for 20 years? more ›