001Good evening everyone. Can you hear me? Thank Good evening everyone. It's 7 o'clock. I'd like to call >> Mike, I have you muted still. I'm just starting the live streams. >> Testing. >> There we go. All right. All set. Good evening everyone. It's 7 o'clock. I'd like to call our special joint meeting to order. We have here today our board of selectman members minus Jim Trip and Rick Char. Do we have everyone from the board of ed here? St. Yeah, Stacey will be. Okay, very good. And we also have our strategic capital improvements committee here as well. So, I'd like to turn it over to Carl now. Good evening everybody. My name is Carl Johnson. I'm the chairman of the strategic capital improvements committee. I've also been a town employee since from 2018 to 2022.
002Finished my career here as the director of facilities and grounds for the board of education and started this whole project. The committee was established by the board of selectmen after the referendum failed in November of 2024 for the school project to have one elementary school which would have been located at Valley View. The committee was the committee was named by the named the strategic capital improvements committee. The committee would be tasked with coming up with recommendations for facility repairs and improvements for our elementary and secondary schools and also make recommendations for grade levels in each school with the potential of decommissioning a school. After our appointment meeting in December of 24, we began our regular meetings January 2nd, 2025. While we did that, we then had meetings pretty much weekly or several meetings a month.
003We toured Brownstone Intermediate School, Gildersleeve School, and Valley View School. And we're joined by Friars's architectural firm who helped with repairs and upgrade costs as well as eligible eligible reimbursement costs. We reviewed the sightelines committee which was started back I believe in 2020 and the friars cost analysis for all facilities. After several months of meetings on June 16th 2025 the committee reviewed several different school options. Motions were made, voted several times on different options before passing the the last option plan by a committee vote. The committee approved the plan draft on July 29th, 2025 at our last meeting, which you will hear more this evening about from Dr. Britain's presentation. I would like to thank the committee for all the long hours of hard work to accomplish this. And this is a list of just
004I want to go through this. The strategic capital improvement committee members were Brett Bowski, Christopher Dickman, Jennifer Martinez, Darcy Palmley, Selectman John Dylan, Robert Sheay, director of facilities and grounds, Benjamin Serb, Laurel Steinhouse Steinhauser who was the co-chairman of this committee and also the chairperson for the board of education. I'd also like to thank Dr. Charles Britain, Friars's Architects, Downs Construction, Slam Architects, Recording Secretary Sharon Hoy, and Trisha Dean, executive assistant to the superintendent, and also the school and town tech staff for having Zoom at all these meetings. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Um, thanks Carl. You did a great job with this committee. It was it was a pleasure to work with you. Um, for those I think I know everyone here, but if people are watching online and you don't know me, my
005name is uh Charles Britain. I'm the superintendent of schools for the the Portland Public Schools. So, what's interesting is the last time I stood before all of you in this exact setting was June 2023. if you'll you'll cast your mind back. Um the individual who introduced me at that time was Lupair who had been the chair of a different committee. We called that committee the facility study committee. Um I see Mscato was on that committee. Mr. Murphy was on that committee for the board. Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Hetrick were on that committee and several other folks. And that committee had done an awful lot of work over a year. Um, we had at that time spent quite a bit of money from our COVID relief funds on an architecture firm. We had done demographic studies. We
006had done an awful lot of work. And at that time in June 2023, I shared with you a committee report that by a vote of five to three with one abstension had recommended that Valley View become a prek be renovated to new to become a prek3 school. renovated to new and expanded, that Gildersleeve be decommissioned, and that Brownstone be renovated to new to become a grades four through six school, and that the basement and the auditorium and other parts of that building be turned over to the town. If you remember, that was what I presented um in June 2023. That began a process of many discussions at the board, both board levels. And if you'll remember uh first selectman who recommended that a townwide survey be done that was the great blue survey because I
007understood and I still do that you know it's it's a big change and it was a big a lot of change and it was a very expensive proposition and it wasn't one that was unanimously embraced by the community. Um for better or worse there I have not yet find found a solution that everybody agrees to. That's what makes this so complicated. But at that time, the idea was to survey the community and respond to the wishes of the voters of Portland. When that survey came back, the preferred option was for a preK5 Valley View with sixth grade move to the middle school with uh decommissioned Gildersleeve, a decommissioned Brownstone and a preK5 renovated to new and greatly expanded um value. There were the town meetings that followed. We did a lot of work with our
008EDS specs plans. We put together a conceptual order of magnitude budget, shared that with our town financial planner, got the bonding tables, shared it with bond council, and all of that materialized on a bonding measure. Next slide, please. That was put before the voters. Dylan, if you could push the slide forward that was put before the voters last November during the presidential election. That bonding measure would have moved sixth grade to the middle school, decommissioned Gildersleeve, decommissioned Valley View, and created a pre excuse me, decommissioned Gildersleeve, decommissioned Brownstone, and expanded Valley View to create a preK5 school. That was a $66 million proposition. That was defeated relatively handily. We all remember that. That's what happened. Next slide, please. Right after that vote, the I guess I will start here. Right after that vote, a lot
009of us, you know, took some time, took a breath, asked ourselves, what was it about that question, about that measure, about that idea that the community didn't like? Now, I have to be honest, we didn't do any formal study, but we could read the social media comments. We could see the editorials in the River East, and we had lots of conversations um with folks in the community about what it was about that proposition that the community voted no for. And these are the reasons that that I've sort of gleaned from that feedback. First, there were significant concerns about the size of the school. You you couldn't go far in Portland without seeing a vote no on a mega school signed. The size of the school was something that a lot of people were concerned about.
010the logistics of it, lunchwave scheduling, impact on school climate, culture, and generally going from three of the state's very smallest elementary schools to one of the state's larger elementary schools in a small town was something we heard from the community that that that wasn't um an idea that a lot of people could could get behind. So, the size of the school was definitely a cause for concern. The impact of traffic on High Street, on Hall Hill Road, potentially Bartlett, and other areas was also a concern. Um, there was definitely concern about, well, what would happen to a decommissioned Brownstone and a decommissioned Gildersleeve? I know that this town has some experience in the current town hall. That was a school at one time. It was boarded up for a long time in town that left
011a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. And there was a concern that if there wasn't a plan for what to do with a decommissioned Gilders sleeve and a decommissioned Brownstone, they might sit idle or vacant and that wasn't something that the community could support. So there was uncertainty about what might happen to decommissioned schools. There was also a pretty significant concern about what the impact on the community would be if you lost a gym. Right? If if Brownstone had no longer been available to the community and uh Gildersleeve gym was no longer available, while the plan had us adding a gym to Valley View, the net loss could have been one gym and there were lots of folks in town, particular travel, basketball, and others that felt like that would make scheduling of
012the of events like basketball difficult. So, there was certainly concern about the gym space. We also heard that the resolution didn't have any funding in it for the secondary school and we know that the building you're in now here tonight also needs quite a bit of work and that if we had passed this bonding measure any future money that might be needed for capital improvements at the secondary school could be difficult to secure. Then of course there were concerns about the costs, the mill rate impact and the idea that at that point the bonding measure length would have been 30 years. Lots of folks felt like that was too long, right? So there were concerns about the costs, the impact on the mill rate and the length of the proposed bonding schedule. And then of
013course there were communication issues, right? That a lot of it was a very complicated plan. a lot of people didn't un didn't necessarily feel like the communications that they received were clear and precise or answered all of their questions. So those are the seven reasons that that I gleaned from social media and conversations and reading editorials in the River East. I believe that those reflect the reasons why about 60% of the people in Portland came out and voted no on that measure. Next slide, please. So right after that the board of selectman got together and on November 10 uh 20th formed by resolution a new committee the strategic capital improvements committee and that committee was tasked with doing these three things. I took this language right from the resolution the board of selectman passed we
014were asked to go forward to get back at it. So if we we know we must do something that plan wasn't embraced by the community. We would like a plan B. At that time in November I was hearing that the committee was asked to try to bring a plan forward that we might get to another bonding um measure last spring. That was very ambitious. Certainly we felt like it was going to be more important to take our time and not rush things and do it a little bit more slowly. So, we weren't able to uh bring you any proposals or any ideas by the spring. We spent all spring, really all winter and all spring and into the summer doing our homework. I can tell you that um under Carl's leadership, we really did leave
015no stone unturned. And I am prepared to present to you tonight um a report that outlines how we would respond to these three bullet measures. Next slide, please. Our first meeting was January 2nd, 2025. And the first thing we did was take a look at the facilities study committee report. As part of that, I think one of the most important things Lupair led us through with that committee was we had done a whole bunch of focus groups, many many focus groups with teachers, parents, students, administrators, ev everybody in the community. We visited the RTC, the DTC. We we took the show on the road and we asked the community what their priorities were for their facilities. These were the nine things in their rank order in terms of what we heard from Portland residents were
016most important that whatever we did we should be able to impress upon the community how that plan would provide high quality academic space, positive school climate, promote school security, promote high quality indoor air quality, would be energy efficient, uh flexible and cost effective. Um capacity for enrollment growth if we ever added prek or enrollment went up. Certainly ADA compliant um and that there was dedicated community space when the schools weren't using the facilities. Our our strategic planning committee with Carl unanimously agreed that these were our priorities too. We cribbed those priorities from the facility study committee and made them ours too. So these were unanimously supported by the strategic planning committee and as well as by the facility study committee. Next slide please. Also, right away the committee took some votes kind of we first
017we did some sort of straw polls went around the table and and asked each other what we thought we could all agree to and there was very quickly unanimous agreement no agreement like complete yes to each one of these. First, the committee unanimously agreed that consolidating from three elementary schools to two was in the community's best interest. unanimous agreement on that. The committee also unanimously agreed that moving sixth grade to the middle school makes a lot of sense. There is space here at the middle school. It wouldn't require any work on the middle school. I could move the sixth grade to the middle school before Thursday. I wouldn't suggest we do that, but we could do that there. We could move the sixth grade to the middle school relatively efficiently without having to do massive
018amounts of work. The space exists here at the secondary school. So consolidating from three to two, moving the sixth grade to the middle school, and we all agree that we can't do nothing, right? This is really important for everybody to hear. And I know Bob is in the room. Carl is here as a former facilities director. I have teachers here. I promise you there will be a lot of nodding heads when I say our schools need work. Valley View, Gildersleeve, and Brownstone are reaching a point right now. they're safe and they're healthy and they're ready to be open Thursday and and I can't wait to get our students back in them. But we're reaching a point where if we don't do anything and ignore this problem, we will start to experience critical failures like the
019boiler going at Brownstone, which I hope is here before the cold weather gets here. The roofs are failing. Bob is having a really hard time keeping our facilities dry. they they are going to eventually reach a point where they can't service teaching and learning if we don't do anything about this. So the committee unanimously agreed yes we can't ignore this problem we must do something. Next slide please. So here is the elephant in the room. If we consolidate from three elementary schools to two, the first thing we have to decide is which elementary school do we want to decommission. When I was here in June, I presented a plan to you that would have closed Gildersleeve. We went to the voters with a referendum in November that would have had us clo decommission and closing
020Gildersleeve and Brownstone. You could close Valley View, you could close Gildersleeve or you could close Brownstone. Any one of those three that there are certainly logistical and expense differences, but it is possible to decommission any one of those three schools. So these were the options. Decommission Valley View and create a preK2 facility at Gildersleeve and a 35 facility at Brownstone. Decommission Gilder, decommission Gildersleeve, create a prek uh two facility at Valley View and convert Brownstone into a 35 or decommission Brownstone and create a preK2 facility at Valley View and a 35 facility at Gilders. These were the options. There is still not unanimous agreement on our committee about which of these options is preferable. Next slide, please. At the end of the process, next slide please. After lots of discussion, the committee voted 72 to
021decommission Brownstone Intermediate School, convert Valley View into a preK2 facility and convert Gildersleeve into a grade 35 facility. It was passionate. It was sometimes heated. It was It was deliberative. It was exactly the type of deliberations you want on a committee. We didn't reach full agreement on it, but at the end of the day, by a vote of 72, this was the option the committee felt was best. What I'm going to present to you tonight is what the seven people who voted yes, this reflects their thinking. This reflects the logic and the suggestion that has come out of this committee. Next slide, please. So, why Brownstone? What is it about Brownstone that the committee felt like that was the school that we'd like to decommission? First, we have to understand that the costs of alterations
022on Brownstone were significantly higher than the costs of the alterations or renovations at Gilder Slave and Brownstone. A lot of that has to do with the size and age and condition of the school. It's much larger and would be significantly more expensive to do the type of work that will be necessary to take an aging 1930s high school and turn it into a modern 2030s elementary school. The second issue is the same issue the facility study committee ran into. If you're going to renovate a school to new, the reimbursement rate you receive from the state is sensitive to student enrollment. that school was way too large to receive the full reimbursement rate. So, what we would have had to do was either a demolish a large part of the building if we were going to
023renovate it to new and the committee felt like that was a a no way. Like I don't think anybody in the community would want to see a large part of Brownstone ripped off, which is what it would have would have been necessary. Or we would have been back to the facility study committee recommendation to seek special approval from the state to turn over the basement, wall it off and turn over the auditorium or some other large part of the building to the town and only focus on renovating to new those parts that we're using as the school which would have created on this side of the wall a very old building and on this side of the wall a very new building with different mechanical service in each. So there were a lot of logistical
024reasons and expense that would have had to go into renovating to new or altering brownstone. There's also a concern that even if we were going to spend that amount of money and renovate that building to new, there were a lot of concerns shared by teachers and others and I share some of them that converting again a 1930s era high school into a developmentally appropriate 2030s era elementary school just wasn't feasible. based on the design of the building, the original edspecs plan that was written for it probably in the 1920s versus what we would need now to make it an appropriate learning space, especially for third and fourth graders. And another concern we have, of course, is that I hope you've all taken a ride down past Brownstone and taken a look at what's happening. literally
025a stones throw away. There is a giant Nordic spa going in right next to Brownstone. There are concerns about how that is going to influence traffic patterns and congestion in that area and whether that would somehow negatively affect things like parent pickup, parent drop off, and students ability to cross the street safely or otherwise um access that building in a way that doesn't doesn't raise any concerns. And finally, and this is the most important one, and this was raised by a committee member that Brownstone has the most potential to become something else. Its location and its condition, it very easily could be a municipal facility and used to support town activities or potentially someday some combination of municipal and commercial entity. There is, it is a beautiful building. The town loves this building and it
026has a ton of potential to transition into something else and we have some suggestions for what that something else might be. So those are the primary reasons why the committee decided that Brownstone would be the best would be the the candidate for decommissioning. Next slide please. That said, the committee recognizes recognized that part of the reason why folks came out and voted no on the mega school, right, was because they wanted to know what would happen to Brownstone. There was a real concern in the community that it would be boarded up and not used and otherwise it's a beloved entity here in town. So, the committee felt like we have to address that. We need to put forward some ideas for what Brownstone could become. So, our recommendation here is that we put $2 million
027into Brownstone to start for the electrical system. Part of the problem at Brownstone is we can't run many splits or air conditioning or many things in Brownstone because the electrical system can't support it. If you put a new electrical system in it, then you could transition it into year round, especially in the summer when it's very hot use. if you put mini splits or otherwise were able to cool or circulate the air in a way that the electrical system could support. So the idea is put $2 million into it and then shortterm turn the facility over to Portland Park and Recck, Portland Youth Services, Portland Food Bank, and expand the lease with Oakill so that more of the classrooms can be rented as a special education facility. That is the committee's recommendation and that was
028approved by the committee 72. Okay, next slide please. So here we go. So let's move to value. So there were was conversation about and a proposal to decommission valley and I wanted to address some of the reasons why the committee on the The majority of the committee felt that decommissioning value didn't make sense. Right? The committee thought that decommissioning value view made less sense because it shares a campus with the secondary school. I mean we could literally walk right down the hill and we are at Valley View. The secondary school and the Valley View are on the same campus, which again creates operational efficiencies for us and makes sense to keep. The second reason is that it's the only school we have with sufficient acreage. There's the ball field right across from it and there's
029the parking lot and even to the extent that work could be done on the hill up towards the secondary school that if the population in Portland ever grew and you needed to expand there's space at Valley View to expand whereas the other facilities don't have that same acreage or ability to increase its footprint. Also the facility is currently used as a prek1 school. was formerly used as a prek2 school. We the community has experience with it and it is purpose-built, purposefully designed as an early childhood education facility. The other concern is that Value doesn't have a regulation gym. Okay? Value has a multi-purpose room with tiles, right? It we use the multi-purpose room for physical education classes, but it doesn't have hardwood. It doesn't have basketball nets. It's not lined for volleyball. If you turned
030it over to Portland Park and Wreck, they wouldn't have much use for it. I mean, there it's it's not a gym. It's a multi-purpose room as a park and wreck entity. If you turn Brownstone over to Park and Wreck, you'll have a community theater and a full gym. If you turned Valley View over to Park and Wreck, it doesn't have a theater and it doesn't have a gym, so it wouldn't be of much use to parks and wreck. And then um finally in considering what the disposition of that school might become, unlike Brownstone because of its condition and location, there isn't a lot of uses other than as a school that Valley View might evolve into. Likely what you would be doing someday is demolishing it or putting money into it or selling it for
031educational purposes. We couldn't really think of a lot of value in that facility. outside of its use as a school. So those are the reasons why I believe the seven votes to keep Valley View. That was the logic that came out of of those discussions. So next slide, please. So here was the recommendation. By a vote of 7 to2, the committee recommends that we renovate to new when with a slight expansion. So there will be a slight amount of square footage added to the building, but a lot of this has to do with gutting the building and reconfiguring it and adding a gym. By by doing that, you could renovate to new and turn that facility into back into I should say a prek2 facility. Frier architect architecture was very helpful in guiding us in
032the cost considerations of that. They believe that the total cost of a renovation to new on that facility would be $47 million. We recently took a look at our our state reimbursement rate and calculate what bonuses we would get for the early childhood education prek parts of it and for our relationship with open choice. And we believe that if if we do everything right, we could receive 60% reimbursement from the state of Connecticut. So the cost to the town for this would be $18 million. The cost from the Hartford from the state of Connecticut would bring in an additional 28.2 million. Total cost $47 million to renovate to New Valley View, add a gym, turn it into a prek2 facility. Next slide, please. And Gildersley. Now, interesting consideration. This was a it's going to take
033a little bit of explaining. Bear with me. We considered a renovation to new of Gildersley. We considered that because that similar to Valley View would maximize the reimbursement we could receive from the state if we renovate Gildersleeve to new up to 60% of that potentially could be reimbursed from the state and 40% of those costs would be shouldered by the town of Portland. However, again, similar to Brownstone, if we renovate to new, we can only renovate the amount of square footage that's sensitive to three grade levels worth of students. So, it's it's math. You take 300 students, multiply that by a certain square footage, and you get the footprint that you can renovate to new. Gilder sleeve is much larger than that. So what we would have to do if we were to renovate to
034new Gildersleeve would be demolish 9,000 square feet. You'd have to take off of that building about 18% of the available square footage. And our architects looked at that and generally they looked at it and said the current music room, art room, office space where our reading special educ like there there's a wing kind of on the side like basically have to rip off the entire wing and then renovate to new the remaining space. This was a little bit surprising to our committee and we don't want to lo didn't want to lose that space. There was a lot of discussion about this. So the committee decided that rather than pursue renovate to new status and demolish 9,000 square feet, the idea would be to simply pursue alterations and capital improvements necessary to upgrade the facility to
035make it suitable for grades three through five. I know that's a little bit complicated, but it involves how the state calculates reimbursement percentages and the difference between renovate to new alterations and capital improvements. Next slide please. So this was the committee's recommendation by a vote of 7 to2 approximately 27 million. Now again we have a lot of work to I'm going to get to that in terms of dialing in what that number is, but to the tune of approximately $27 million, of which the majority of it, 75% would be of responsibility for the town of Portland with 25% reimbursement for the state for code compliance issues, roofs, school security, and ADA matters. You could do significant work on roof and HVAC and parking lot and windows and abatements necessary. Do a significant amount of work
036on gilders sleeve to upgrade it and turn it into a highly serviceable facility for students in grades three through five. Next slide please. And then we have the secondary school. So the secondary school does need quite a bit of of work. We took a a deep dive into both the sightelines report, input from Bob and um you know other experts in terms of our our HVAC technicians. And we recommend if if we go to bond, we ask for an additional $8 million for the secondary school specifically for a new roof, HVAC units, and all of the controllers necessary um to run the air handling and create a good HVAC system. The way the system was designed here was not great. So I won't get into the details about two pipe and three pipe. I don't
037even understand it well enough except to tell you that the indoor air quality and the roof at the secondary school needs to be addressed. So if we put $8 million into a bond, we could address those things and then hopefully apply savings from a school consolidation to address other capital needs. and uh we're confident that this would put us in a good position for the secondary school. Now, I don't know what the state reimbursement for this would be. I'm not entirely sure. We still are working on this. There are new programs. There's one called DRIP. There were HVAC grants that went out from the state. We have our work to do. You we need to get in touch with our um uh legislators in Harford and really figure out what the reimbursement on this would
038be. the $8 million wouldn't all be on Portland. Some of it would be eligible for state reimbursement. I just can't say at this moment exactly what that percentage reimbursement would be. But the committee did vote and this was um a unanimous recommendation from the committee to do the $8 million worth of work on the HVAC system and roof at the secondary school. um pursue aggressively any state reimbursement for that work and then apply any sa overhead savings to additional projects that need to be done at the secondary school. Okay, next slide please. So looping back, one of the things that I'm proud to say this committee's report does is I believe it's effectively addressed all of the concerns that led to the no vote. If anybody prints signs for a no vote this time, it
039can't say mega school. There is no more mega school. These are a current school sizes. We would be going back to Valley View as a preK2. Before 2015, Valley View was prek2. Gildersleeve currently serves three grade levels. Under this plan, Gildersleeve would serve three grade levels. The only change would be that the sixth grade would be moved to the middle school. I don't think anybody would call the middle school a mega school because here in Portland, Brownstone used to serve grades six through eight. So, you're just going back in time. There is no mega school here. These are returning us to grade level and school sizes that the community has a long history with. So, I believe our committee has addressed any concern about a mega school traffic. There will be no issues with traffic.
040As a matter of fact, I'm hopeful that traffic would improve again. Valley View is a preK2. Before 2015, for a long time, Valley View served preK2 students with portable classrooms. I never once heard any concerns about traffic when it was a preK2 school. Gildersleeve, the traffic would actually be improved because we would fix finally that horrible crumbling parking lot and set it up to make a more effective and efficient bus loop and pickup area. But even if we didn't, there are three grades at Gildersleeve now. There would be three grades there. There is no issue with traffic. And moving sixth grade to this building, it would add some more students to the buses and would make the parent line for pickup at the end of the day a little longer. But the way that this
041campus is uh configured, I don't believe there will be any problem with traffic. Uncertainty regarding decommissioned schools, we have a plan for all of them. Again, Valley View will be prek2. Gildersleeve would be 35. Brownstone would be handed over to Portland Park and Wreck, Portland Youth Services, Portland Food Bank, expand the lease with Oakill, and then longer term absorb the impact of the Nordic Spa and look to the land use committee report for future uses. Loss of community gym space. Under this plan, Portland would gain a gym. So right now you have gym space at Gildersleeve, Brownstone Middle School, High School. Under this plan, you would have uh gym space at those four schools and Valley. So Portland would be gaining a gym. I'm sure travel basketball would be delighted to hear that concerns that
042we didn't address secondary complex. We can check that off. This plan calls for an $8 million to put towards the secondary school HVAC system. uh with applying overhead savings to other projects. So, we've addressed that too. Cost mill rate increase and length of bond. I'm going to loop back to that with some of the other recommendations. But again, while this plan is more expensive than the $68 million mega school plan, what this plan does include, which the plan last November didn't, was money towards Brownstone, money towards the secondary school. So, And I'll talk a little bit about recommendations uh in terms of analyzing the fiscal considerations shortly. And then finally, community outreach and engagement. That's why we're here tonight. I am hoping that we get feedback from the board of education and the board of
043selectman on this plan. If the boards of education and board of selectman embrace this plan, we have a lot of work to do and certainly educating the community about it and answering um those concerns. begin tonight in earnest. Next slide, please. And I believe I won't go through them except to say that I believe that this plan will result would result in a renovated to new very nice value, an altered very nice gilder sleeve, and an upgraded uh HVAC system at the secondary school. and would thereby we could check off each of these as we write EDS specs plans and work with architects we will make sure that within th those projects every single one of these priorities in that rank order is addressed okay next slide please so I'll go through these quickly but
044these are just a summary of your recommendations recommendation one consolidate Portland school facility elementary school facilities from three schools to Relocate sixth grade to the middle school, apply savings from the school consolidation, and retirement of existing bonding in town to work on the secondary school complex, decommission Brownstone, but bond $2 million for the electrical system, and turn the facility over to parks and wreck, Portland Youth Services, Portland Food Bank, and expand the lease with Oakill. Authorize a bond in the neighborhood of 42 to 47 million to renovate to new and slightly expand Valley View to create a preK2 facility. Authorize a bond in the neighborhood of 26 to $30 million to alter and do capital projects at Brownstone to create a 35 facility. And then an $8 million investment in the secondary school HVAC system.
045Next slide, please. Now, with that, these are other things that we would have to do very quickly here in order to realize this plan. My first recommendation is I'm I'm hoping for a signal from the boards tonight to to begin this work. I'm hoping to hear from the boards tonight that the we we want to move forward with this. This this is the plan that we would like to see see us pursue and and if so again I and our board of education and Bob we have a lot of work to do and it begins with I'm going to recommend that we do another 10-year demographic study. We did the last demographic studies a year and a half ago. By the time these projects got going, we would need another 10-year look. So my recommendation
046is that we do another 10-year demographic study. The second thing, and this is most important, we need to have another architect firm. Again, whether it's Frier or not, whether it's Slam or Kers or Frier or Peruio or whomever else, whatever, we need to have another architect work with us. All of this is in concept, but we have to take the inconcept down to a conceptual order of magnitude budget and education specifications plan and a process to call all of that information together, share it with bond council, share it with the town's financial planner, and eventually bring this forward for a bonding measure with a number that we're confident in both in terms of the number and the scope of the work. So Bob and I have a lot of work to do on this, but
047we need help. We really need the guidance from an expert, from an architecture firm who has done work work of this kind and can help guide our considerations in our planning. Um once we have that conceptual order of magnitude budget and that understanding of what we're going to be doing, all of that needs to be shared with the town's financial planner. And then that's when we get into the consideration of whether it's a 20-y year, 25 year, 30-year, what the bonding and the amortization tables look like in terms of the debt repayment. And then this next one I think is really important and this was a discussed widely at the committee and and I think we would unanimously agree that the town I understand the town's going through um its plan of conservation, but in
048addition to that or As part of that, I think hiring a financial planner to come in and look at the town and say, "What's going to happen when you do re-evaluation? What's going to happen when the tax abatement comes off at Brainer Place? What is the impact of the um Nordic Spa when it when it comes online? What new housing starts are here? What is your net grand list going to look like? And how much money would you be able to yield from that net grand list from your current mill rate?" that that work needs to be done. In addition to the town looking at we know the secondary bond expired, you know, within the next five years your park bond is going to expire. But on the other side, you have water, sewer, or
049any other needs. Like somebody needs to put all of these things in a spreadsheet. This is what's expiring. this is what's coming on and a full look at the town's financial picture and growth in the net grand list over the next 10 years and bring that forward to both your financial planner and your town so that when you're looking at that amortization table that your financial planner puts together in terms of paying off this bond, we all understand how much of it is going to be offset by growth in the net grand list and retirement of existing bonding versus how much is going have to be raised in the current um mill rate formula. I see nodding heads. That was a lot. Um I there's a lot to unpack there. Um but that it would
050be an essential step in terms of our communication efforts with the community. Many people of whom are going to be asking that all important question is how much more am I going to have to pay in my property taxes. So that bond is really important and we would need to do that this fall and winter. And of course you have a election this November. Democracy is a powerful instrument. My my recommendation is is those folks who are running for elected office are going to need to take a position on this and and answer that question. Do you support this? And you know, I remember I think it was George Bush who said elections have consequences, right? I remember him saying that. And you people need to campaign on this. This is something that hey, vote
051for me and this is what I'll support or don't vote or or don't vote for me or if you vote for me, this is what I'll support. I mean, part of the democratic system is that educate your your constituents, ask for their vote, and let them know if you vote for me, here is what I plan to do for our town. That alone is going to raise awareness in the community about what our plans might be. So, I know that there was a hope that we could get this out last spring before the municipal election so it wouldn't necessarily become an election issue, but that didn't happen. Here we are. The elections coming. I think that this needs to be a centerpiece of debates, discussions, campaign literature, and all of the things that happen this
052fall as we start to see the yard sides get excited about who our next leaders are going to be or continue to be. And then of course, one of the mistakes I think we may have made was that we need to be more assertive in our conversations with bond counsel. I'm not entirely sure if the way the last bonding measure was written and went forward on the ballot was the clearest way that it could have been. I think we have to have discussions with bond council before we draft the next bond measure so it reflects the actual costs of the measure. And then of course um make sure that all of this information is packaged. It's a very complicated thing. It's very hard to there's no bumper sticker that I can put this on. Right?
053The no mega school was brilliant marketing. I can't compete with that because this isn't a bumper sticker plan. This is a very complicated information. I need help in terms of communicating it in a way that everybody can understand. And I'm not I'll be honest with you. I'm not a marketer, but we need to make sure that we we put all of this information together and share it widely in a way that people can make an informed decision and understand some very complicated things with mill rates and space reimbursement percentages and all of these things that can be relatively esoteric. Okay, next slide please. So part of the charge from the board of selectman was not only to bring forward a proposal which you've got but also a timeline. How could we make this work on
054the most aggressive timeline? So here's the suggested time frame and the committee discussed this and supports this. First timeline right now is summer and fall. So this summer here we are present the committee report at a joint meeting. You can check that off. That's happening tonight. share the report with the community. I have done that. It is posted on the high school on the uh public schools website. Anybody in the community can see it. Go to the go to uh www.portland school portland schoolct.org. You can see it right on the web website. So, I've shared the plan publicly. This fall, I think we need to leverage the municipal elections to begin educating the community and building coalitions, build support for the committee's recommendations. That needs to happen as part of um the campaign process this
055no September September, October, and November if all goes well. Next slide, please. Okay. this fall into this winter. We need to do another demographic study. I can handle that. We can we need to develop an education specifications plan. I would be working on that. We need to engage an architecture firm. I need another expert like Mike Serrano like Frier Architect or again whether it's Slam or Collers or ProIio or any number of different um firms in the state that do this kind of work. We need another expert to come in and help us develop the scope of work for a renovation to new and an alterations as well as the work that needs to be done on the HVAC system with the engineering work to secondary school. Turn that into a plan, an actual plan
056with numbers that we can get behind shared with construction firms so they double blind score the cost. So we make we know we have an actual number that we can put in something called a conceptual order of magnitude budget. We would then take that detailed scope of work and conceptual order of magnitude budget and share it with the town's financial planner concurrent with that. I'm hoping that the town considers either through the um the new land use work that the committee is working on or through a financial planner share that information with the town's both the town's financial planner and bond council so that we will understand what is the financial impact of this going to be on the town of Portland as considered through the lens of um projected growth in the town's net
057grand list. Um impact on the mill rate, retirement of D of debt obligations, future debt obligations, and savings from both overhead as well as growth in the net grand list as the tax abatement expires on Brainer Place as the Nordic Spa comes online as you look at other housing starts in the town and consider the impact of re-evaluation. All that would need to happen, it's very aggressive, this fall and winter so that all of this can be shared with the community and eventually formed into a bonding resolution. Next slide, please. If we do that work this winter, I'm hopeful that this spring, we would be able to do a a comprehensive education with the community, explain to everybody what it is they're voting on, and understand all of the implications of this plan, both from
058a teaching and learning perspective and a financial cost perspective. And this spring, I'm hoping another bond bring forward another bonding resolution. If we can do that this spring, the deadline that I have to submit to the state for our grant application on a renovate to New Valley View is June 30th, 2026. So really, a bonding resolution any time before June 30th, 2026 would be necessary. The difference this time, unlike the presidential election, is that with the presidential election, I was allowed to submit the grant application before we had an authorized bonding measure. This time, I can't do that. We have to have an authorized bonding measure before I submit the grant application. If we do our work this summer, fall, winter, and spring, fingers crossed, we would then be in a position to submit that
059grant application um by the deadline, which is June 30, 2026, which would then set us up for next slide, next year. So 2026, 2027, if we're we're here right now, 12 months from now, we will be waiting to hear back from the state of Connecticut on our grant. We won't hear from the state until December 2026, right? So, we submit it in June and we have to wait. But while we're waiting, it doesn't mean we're twiddling our thumbs. We will be planning, right? We will be building budgets and and doing the work in preparation for what I can expect will be a positive response from the Department of Administrative Services on the grant application. But what this means is that for all of this year and all of next year, no changes, right? Our schools
060will continue to be what they are today for all of this year and all of next year. Next slide, please. So, two years from now, if everything lines up, we'll go through this year doing all of the work I laid out. We'll go through next year planning and waiting. And then at the start of the 2027 2028 year, that will be phase one. As part of phase one, sixth grade will move to the middle school. PreK2 will move to Gildersleeve. Grades three through five will move to Brownstone. We will empty out Valley View for that entire year to do the work on Valley View to renovate it to new in the 2027 2028 school year and of course begin working on the secondary school. Next slide, please. Which would hopefully then bring us to the
0612028 2029 school year, which would then be phase two. Valley View would be a brand new preK2 school. We would move our students preK2 back to back to Valley View and empty out Gildersleeve, do all of the abatement and work that we need to do to alter and do the capital improvements on Brownstone for the entirety of the 2028 2029 school year. Next slide, please. And then finally, at the start of the 2029 2030 school year, God will be ready to retire just about, we will move grades three through five from Brownstone to Gildersleeve and turn over the keys to Brownstone to Portland Park and Recreck, Portland Youth Services, Portland Food Bank, and hopefully at that point be ready to expand our lease with Oakill and let Brownstone evolve into its new function. So, it's
062a long time. It's a This is a five a fiveyear plan, but in order to um actualize this plan, we need to get started now. So, I'll let you all take a breath. That was a lot. Figured I would just fly through everything and then take questions at the end to expedite this a little bit. That said, we have questions. Anybody have questions? In one of your last wa that's loud, one of your last um info sessions, I think it was last year, you had mentioned that there was uh an HVAC grant that the state was offering u that would double our money. Uh is that still available? Unfortunately, there were two there were two rounds of that ground and that we missed. There was a promised third round of it that I'm that I
063I have not heard of yet, but my fingers are crossed right now. So, the answer right now is as of now, I'm not aware of a third round of that grant. We missed that boat and I'm really kind of bummed about that because that would have been the 50% reimbursement on this $8 million project. Now, that said, there are other programs like called DRIP. And I think that because we missed that third round of grants and it was promised and I believe some of that money is still there. If this is embraced by the community, I think what we need to do is reach out to Norm Needleman and Christy Carpino and our friends in Hartford and say, "Come on. We weren't ready to do it then. We were promised the third round, which is
064why we maybe didn't move as assertively as we should have. Is there any way you can help us offset this $8 million roof project at the at the secondary school um when when you give the cost to for bonding is that the number before the state reimbursement >> numbers before? Yes. So that the the 47 million for a renovate to New Valley View is what Frier projects is the total cost of that 60% we're hopeful between what we learned is actually been a little bit of an increase we were happy to see in our state reimbursement rate and because we participate in open choice and we try to maintain 5% of our students for open choice students we get that bonus and we get a little bit of a bonus at Valley View because we're
065making some prek space. So, the state reimbursement, the bonus for the open choice, and the bonus for the prek space puts us, we're hoping, in that 60% range. So, 60% of the 47 million would come from Hartford. The other 40% would come from the town of Portland. Now, that said, we have to be careful because those are for what are called eligible costs. At the beginning of a project, a lot of eligible costs look like they aren't eligible, but the way the architects explained it is that over the course of the project, those ineligible projects become eligible. So, it's a little bit confusing, but I think that the committee was comfortable with that 60% reimbursement from the state number on a renovate to new project at value. >> Okay. Well, I think what spooks a
066lot of the voters is they see the big number, but they don't understand what the reimbursement is. >> It's very complicated. >> So, somehow when we're marketing this, >> we got to get that point across >> because that's a lot of what I heard. Well, 68 million for one new school, but a lot of people didn't realize we were going to get 54 55% of that back. Two comments on that. That is why this time I think a we need to do a better job communicating this. I own some of that too. I think we need to be out there explaining to people, but also when we work with bond counsel to draft the language for the resolution. We can be more assertive. We can make sure that that reflects or includes language that identifies
067the reimbursements that we anticipate. So I think between communicating working with bond council on a new on the language for the bonding measure and then three this is the one I'm kind of most excited about is an analysis from my financial planner on net grand list growth impact of tax abatement expiring at Brainer Place impact of Nordic Spa coming on any new housing stars growth in the net grand list how that and reevaluation how that offsets any projected rate increases resulting from this. So those are three critical things that the bond measure and the work we do communicating this. >> Uh this is John Dylan. I'm the on the board of selectman but I was also the board representative to this committee. Um Charles, if you could just we we t you touched on it
068but I think people need to understand a little more. We the committee decided to do a renovate to new on Valley View and to do a more of a um what what's the term >> alterations on Gildersleeve because of the state reimbursement and what what I found unique with and you can please speak to this the renovate to new on Valley View you were actually basically gutting the building and within the existing footprint based upon the state's square footage per child requirement, we were actually we will potentially gain three additional classrooms in that ex in that existing footprint and get the most reimbursement we can get. But to ensure that we have that flexibility for future growth, we wanted to we chose not to take the full reimbursement for Gildersleeve because we would lose that
069that square footage. Can you just speak a little more to that? >> Yes. Um, so it would be cheaper. I say it would be less expensive for the town of Portland's share if we did a renovate to new on Gildersleeve. The problem though is that in order to do that, you have to demolish 9,000 square feet of that building and shrink it so that you meet the state square footage requirement. I don't know the exact number. I was going to going to give you a number and I I wish Mike Srano were here would tell you that the way they work it is for every student one student you get 300 square feet. I don't know if that's the number but thereabouts. So then it's math. So if if your uh enrollment projections show that
070over the next 10 years in grades three through five you're going to have 310 kids. You take 310, multiply it by that square footage number, and that X, that, you know, 90,000 square feet or whatever it is, is the amount you can renovate to new. The problem is is that Gildersleeve's huge. Gildersleeve is much bigger than that. And we'd have to literally put in a dumpster and take away. And essentially 19 almost 20% of that, almost a fifth of that building you'd have to cart away. And I think that the committee's thought was that yeah, we don't we don't like that. We like the space. It's worth the spending the extra money and pursuing only alterations and capital improvements and not renovate to new because then we can keep that space as a hedge against
071any future enrollment growth and it's nice to have the space. That's what our thinking was about Gildersleeve. Whereas at Valley View, renovate to new makes sense, right? It makes sense because even ren right now just in terms of the square footage value is only slightly smaller than the space you need to get the second grade in there if you got that school and then put up the interior walls and create the classrooms. You can almost fit them in the existing footprint. Now, the building in a renovate to new will grow because we're going to be adding a full-size gym, which is great. And we're going to be blowing out one of the walls kind of down by the library to to get a couple more classroom and office spaces in there. But by gutting the
072school, you you can do that, create enough classrooms for prek and to two and add a gym and stay within that state reimbursement rate so that we can net the 60% that Hartford would give us for that project. >> Thank you. >> Just one thought for your for marketing. You may want you may you may want to use the term renovate to almost new for gilder sleeve, >> right? >> Because when people hear just alterations, we think just window dressing on on the old building that's falling apart. So >> yeah, I would I agree with you and and somebody please be prepared to help me with the marketing. I'm not good at that, right? >> So I I would need help with that. But what we would we would see in working with an architect
073in a conceptual order of magnitude budget is exactly what those projects would be. New roof, new windows, security upgrades, man trap wind um uh cameras, all the things we need, ADA compliance, good god, a complete renovation of that parking lot, which is a disaster, new bus loop, new parking, moving the playground. We would we would see in that all of those things that would be done at at um Gilders, including things like abatement for hazardous materials and other things and upgrading the HVAC system to include new boilers and air conditioning, right? And actual air handling units that move air around so that we can have better air than just an open window with a fan. I know I was a broken record in the committee, but you touched on it, Charles. I think the one
074thing that we did not do our due diligence on last time was again talking about public relations about selling this and explaining this to the community. And what we we assumed that putting everything on a web page and making all the documents available was going to be enough. There's so much data in there and so much confusion with that. Um, I've said all along, I think what we're doing here tonight, we need to do multiple times with the public available to come to get the appropriate people to explain to the public what we're talking about tonight about what the the state reimbursement means and how we go about it and how much it can impact us. But using the Route 17 park as a perfect learning tool when that they did a lot of sales,
075a lot of public um presentations like this in the course of that and I think we need to make that opportunity available to the public to let them come, let them sit down, let them hear the presentation, let them ask the questions. Uh and there There was a lot of confusion last time around and unfortunately in this political climate, you know, everybody thinks about misinformation and and mistrust. There was none of that. But I think we need to make sure we present it to the public in a very open way so that they all walk out of this room feeling like they understand. >> I agree. And how do I say this? I'll say this nicely. I'll be careful with this in some way because a lot of you in here are politicians, right? You
076know, every certain number of years you you run for office, right? And this November, this fall, you're going to be out there campaigning, right? I mean, you're going to have your campaign literature. You're you're going to be canvasing. You're going to be shaking hands. I imagine there are going to be tents at the Portland Fair. I agree with you. part of this marketing campaign has to start with run on or against this, right? I mean, I think I think it's fair for any anybody who I would vote for, I'd want to know, are you for this or not? And if you're not for this, what are you for? Well, so that I'm investing in you and and you're communicating to me what that plan is. Of course, we're going to do more. We need to
077do a much better job. I, you know, 100% agree with you. We'll do focus groups and and community forums and and get out there as as best we can and we need to have political action committees. I hope the teachers are going to be fully engaged in this. And you know, we're we're going to educate people, but you know, I do think that this year's municipal election gives Portland a fair opportunity to vote for the people that are, you know, are are you behind this? And if you're not, okay, and if you're not behind this, what are you behind? Or are you behind nothing? I mean, if if you're going to run on run on I don't think we should do anything. The schools are just fine the way they are. I mean, campaign on
078that or don't or campaign on this like because that that's the power of democracy in my in my mind. I learn as much about people's policy positions and and how they're going to spend my money when I vote for them and and by voting for them, I'm not surprised. One thing I'll say about Donald Trump, he hasn't lied about a thing. He's done exactly doing now what he said he was going to do when he ran and I respect him for that. I don't agree with everything he's doing, but he told us he was going to do that. Right. That's what this fall will give the municipal um people running the opportunity to do. And I I think that that's going to raise the awareness in and of itself. Uh this is Mike Pelton. I
079think that's a great point. And I think you've done a great job presenting the details because it's a lot. And I think at the end of the day, the last referendum failed for a number of reasons, legitimate reasons, people had concerns. But when there's there's something complicated like this, it's a lot easier to manipulate um on both sides. So I think the more information we do, the better. But I think at the end of the day, to get someone that's listening right now or in in here right now to vote yes, I think they have to have two things that check that get chucked off. They have to make sure it's needed. And I think you've presented a a plan that shows it's needed for a lot of reasons and it's also affordable and how
080we do that. So those two things have to be checked. You can't get to a yes without going we need it uh for all these reasons and we can afford to do it. It's a scary number. The 68 million before was a scary number for most people. They didn't know we'd get back about 50% of that. Um the numbers when you add these up are a lot. Um but can we afford it with the Nordic Spa, with the Brainer Place, with uh the everything everything else going up? We're at an inflection point right now in town where we have a number of things going on and this will be the largest project that the town has done. Um so it's vital that we get it right. Um but I appreciate all this and I think
081everyone needs to listen. So I'm fully on board with getting as much education out there as I can. I'm certain that our board would be whether the members are individually for it against it neutral. I think we all agree that we need to get people better educated about this and I think we'll all be beating the drums on this and getting the word out there. Hi, Meg Scotta. Um, I'm on the board of ed and I did serve on two of the four committees that um have turned over every rock in town. Um, as a community, we're uh dedicated to providing the highest quality of education for our students. I don't hear that right now. I hear footage. I hear HVAC. I hear security. I hear the buildings are falling apart. But I think we're
082at a crossroads and we have a plan and the plan is the result of many many years and many minds including architects and educational professionals as well as local community people um coming together to find the best plan and um and I would support getting the information out but also keeping in mind that we're committed to high quality education and the efficiency of um of our of of operating our schools in a safe and u practical way. So, I hope that you know this doesn't come to another um argument about no, we're not doing it or yes, we can. I hope we can all get behind this with some simple uh facts, some um good numbers so people know what they're voting for and uh and next spring we'll have an opportunity to vote on
083this plan. Um but I think it's the best plan considering that probably uh 40 or 50 people have been involved in all of the um data gathering. Um Bobby Hetrick Boris selectman. Why would we wait until construction starts to close a school? Um, why would we wait till construction starts to close the school? You mean Okay. >> Because that the the plan shows two more years of all the schools being open if this passes at referendum. >> Well, is I think there's a there there's two answers I want to want to give you to that. Certainly, we could move sixth grade to the middle school. I'm not sure what I would do with fifth grade, right? In or what I would have to do to close a school now would be, I guess, bring in
084portable classrooms, attach them to Valley View and move the sex the second grade into portable classrooms. If you remember, you had portable classrooms. We could pull those old plans back out, buy five more portable classrooms, move second grade into those portable classrooms, move sixth grade to the middle school, and move fifth grade to Gilderson. Right? That to me would be the only way I could close a school now without a plan. The the downside of that is really any savings in especially in the first year for that would be in the new lease or buying the portable classrooms. It would also be disruptive and it would also leave Brownstone vacant, right? And you know at some point we would need brownstone to be used as swing space during a which is my second part. Brownstone
085we are we are lucky now that we have three small schools that we can use as swing space. Right. One of the things the architect, as you remember from the facilities study committee, told us was that because you have swing space and don't have to um have double sessions or or bring in portable classrooms or beg other towns to take your kids for a year or do lots of things that schools that don't have that space have to do when they do projects like this. It's saving you millions in in time, energy, effort, and upsetting people. Otherwise, kids have to go to school in a construction zone, right? which is also especially if you're it's a construction zone with hazardous materials sometimes you can't right so closing a school before this it it I'm not
086saying it couldn't be done I'm saying it would be expensive it would be logistically challenging and it would also not set you up for the greatest possible success in using the facilities wisely as swing space so could it be done it could you know I mean hey I I guess if if Bob I haven't checked in with you. If the boiler doesn't show up for Brownstone on time and the other one goes before it gets too cold, we might have to figure that out, right? But that would be an emergency. I I don't I don't like it. I wouldn't I wouldn't want to do that to our kids and teachers and and everybody. I think I think that that would be very disruptive to teaching and learning. >> All right. Um, why are we planning
087on building a full-size gym at Valley View if Valley View has never had a full-size gym? >> I think that's something that the community would benefit from. And, you know, I I I'm not prepared to answer that. I mean, could it could you save some money by leaving it a multi-purpose space and not putting a gym on there? I'm sure you could, but if you're if you're going to do the renovate to new, get the 60% reimbursement. fits within the space standards. Um, and you're gutting the building anyway, I think it would make sense to put a a nice woodf floor basketball court there, both for the prek2 students to use and for the community to have as a recreational space. Y interrupt member only question at the moment. >> Do Tim, do you want
088to go for do you want to wait for the Zoom question? >> Okay, why don't we do the Zoom Zoom question, Dylan? Thank you. >> All right, we're gonna unmute uh Don Go. Uh, good evening. Uh, I've had a a question that's bothered me since the start of the discussion way back when of changing the schools. And that question is, when I graduated from high school in 1957, we had 62 graduates and we had two schools. uh the central school and high school and I understand that we are going to graduate a a similar number of students and we have five schools. What constituted us getting to that point where we have five schools for the same number of students that graduated when we had two? >> How much time do you have for that
089one? Okay. I got as much time as you need. This has been bothering me for a long time. >> In order in order for people like myself to make a decision, I believe we have to understand that reasoning. >> All right. Let me back you up then. This is BC before Charles, right? >> Yes. >> I want to take you to 2002, right? At that time, the community decided to create build new Portland middle school. Before 2002, you had Valley View, which was serving students in preK 2 with portable classrooms. You had Gilder Sleeve, which had students in grades three, four, five. You had Brownstone Middle School, which had stu students in grades six, seven, eight. and you had Portland High School with grades 9 through 12. You didn't have the middle school. The decision
090was made at that time to build Portland Middle School brand new and gut and renovate to new Portland High School. When you did that, it is true, Don, that you could have moved everybody out of Brownstone to the new middle school, right? You you had enough room to make this a 68 school. It could have been done, but that would have necessitated closing Brownstone. Okay. Now, the elephant in the room is just that. Decommissioning Brownstone as a school, I believe, is something that would not have been supported in Portland back then. And I'm wondering even now if it's something the community will support. It could have been done then. you you could have moved 68 out of Brownstone Middle School to the new middle school here. Instead, the decision was made to only move 78,
091leave grade six at the Brownstone, change it from Brownstone Middle School to Brownstone Intermediate School and move fifth grade out of Gildersleeve to join them at the new Brownstone Intermediate School. At that time, 2004, when you open the middle school, the district became prek2 at Valley View with portable classrooms that were literally falling apart. I hear horror stories about them. Grades three and four only in the huge brown gilders sleeve. I can imagine half of that building was empty. And grades five and six at Brownstone, grades seven and eight at the middle school, and 9 through 12 at the high school. The reason what and I only know this because I've read it in reports that the decision to do that was is because at that time the condition of the portables at Valley View
092was abysmal. They had exceed portable classrooms are by definition not there meant to last forever and they were falling apart. I think the board of ed at that time was saying get rid of those portables, rip them off and move the second grade to Gildersleeve and and that's how you ended up here. Right. My speculation to answer your question specifically about how you added the fifth school was well you built it and you didn't close one. Could you have in terms of the physical capacity of the space? Yes, you could have moved 678 out of Brownstone Middle School to the secondary school, but that decision was was then not to do that. And I believe it was was because of community sentiment and feeling about Brownstone. I see shaking heads. Did I get that right?
093So essentially this plan that I just presented to you will have us doing just that thing that wasn't supported in 2002 exact thing >> and answering the question about >> and and I understand what you said just just said and I agree with it because that's just what happened. However, wouldn't there be a savings if we closed the Gildersleeve School completely and walked away from it? Yes. Part of the pitch behind consolidating to one school, PreK5, was that you would have realized savings if you decommissioned Brownstone and Gildersleeve. I put together a report that outlined what you would save by reducing two principles, two nurses, four custodians, four secretaries, uh two nurses, uh electrical, heat, gas, upkeep, parking, paving, taking care of lots. Yes, there there there was considerable savings in the consolidation to one
094school. there will also be some significant savings in consolidating from three to two. So the answer to that is is yes that in I think what you're saying is that in 2002 by keeping Brownstone open did you add both the cost of the bonding for the new secondary school and the cost of the overhead to run Brownstone? That is a fact. >> Yes. Okay. Now, I I agree that what your plan is for uh the Brownstone on Main Street is an excellent plan. We need that space for park and wreck, etc. But I would think that if we closed the Gildersleeve School completely and consolidated our uh students on High Street, that would even give us better savings because of the the the uh less tra uh traffic for uh moving this the children the
095the bus uh costs and everything. So why aren't we do why don't we have a plan to do that? Why do we have a plan to keep a school open that's going to cost the taxpayer money for the roughly the same number of graduates that we have today in 2025 that we had in 1956. >> So Don we did that was the prek5 school plan that lots of people put vote no on the mega school. we don't want two facilities only. No to that. And the Portland voters came out and 65% of the voters said no to the plan that would have had us return to two facilities. But I think that vote came that way because there was never a published number of savings for the closing of that school. No one that I've
096talked to, and I do didn't know myself, how much money we would actually save if we closed that school outright. That was never told to the public. Wasn't told to me. >> So, unfortunately, and I'm going to own this part, that that was published. It was something that I that we did do and shared that number and it was over a million dollars a year in overhead savings that would have resulted from decommissioning two schools and consulting was over I think it was about a,200,000 a year in savings. We could have have realized um it was shared with the facility study committee. It did end up on the website but that is the problem. It was one of hundreds of piece of very complicated information that was lost in a bunch of hyperlinks on the
097website. >> I agree. >> And that's and that's a failing. I own that too. Right. That that we we should >> Why aren't we pursuing that now? If we can save the taxpayer over a million dollars a year. We're not talking pennies. We're talking a million dollars a year in tax money. Why don't we do that now? Why isn't that presented to the You're talking about doing a better job of advertising, which I agree 100% with, but why don't we include in that advertising that if we close that school, we can save the taxpayer a million dollars a year. >> You know, I I'll let me speak for the facility study committee, Carl. And I and and I I think he was right. It was very clear in in one of the first meetings when
098he said that ship has sailed, right? That that we we tried the the the vote no on the mega school side won and that to now go back at that again. I I don't know that there's an appetite in the community to do that. But may Carl, I see you about to say something. Don, this is Carl Johnson, chairman of the strategic planning committee. When we were brought in to the meeting, we were told that the plan for one school by then first selectman Curley that that plan was dead and gone. That's when we started from there working with decommissioning one school. I understand what you're saying. It makes sense. But with 60% of people against it, it was voted down. >> But Carl, you just uh mentioned one school and I I believe we
099would have two schools. >> Well, so we we'd have two schools, a high school, middle school, and the uh um Valley View. >> Let me clarify that. You're correct. we would have one elementary school prek through five. That was the plan for Gildersleeve. I was not on the committee at that point, but that was the plan that was voted down. And along with that, we would have six, seven, and eight. >> Correct me if I'm wrong, Charles. 6, seven, and eight at the middle school at the secondary complex as well as 9 through 12. And that's what we would have had two facilities for this town to take care of. But people felt it was too big. There was too many students in it and it was going to it was they were just not
100comfortable with it. I see. Well, uh, so there's no plans to inform the residents at this time that if they did close the Gildersleeve school, it would save them a million dollars. at at so at this time I I the the committee's put forward a plan that there will be some overhead savings in in consolidating and decommissioning Brownstone only. I'm not again I'm not entirely sure that there's an appetite to revisit the the prek5 school. I think that with a 65% vote on that, you know, that that that was a no. that was uh we the community did did not want that and and I'm not sure that enough has changed in community sentiment now. I think that there are enough people in Portland that are that like small schools that that feel feel that
101having that that small school is is reflects the small town that we are. Um, >> and I agree if that's what the majority wants to do and they're comfortable with uh not getting that million-doll savings, then you know, so be it. But I I would wonder if they actually knew that number of savings if they would still vote the same 60%. >> Good. It's a good qu. It's a good point. Uh Ben, sir, >> and whose responsibility is it to bring that point to the residents to to actually give them the information they need to make an educated decision? >> Mike, >> yeah, I I mean I So, and then I I know I know that that there's another comment here. Here's what here's what I what I think need needs to happen, right? I
102think you you got this is a lot of information, right? I know that I I've met with the board and of education and I I know where where their heads are, but I think they too need need some time to think. I think I think everybody on on both boards need to go. I'm hoping this shows up as agenda items, more conversations are had. The the committee report is is on the website. Give it a read. I'll put this up there. you'll have this recording. You know where I am. I'll be running around all the schools like crazy this week because kids are coming back. But everybody's got my cell phone. Give me a call if you have questions. You know, search your hearts and and ask yourself, is is is this what you want?
103Is this what you want? And and and if it is, great. We got a lot of work to do. Um I'm not sure. And again, I I don't know that I could recommend would recommend that we should go back out again with the preK5 school. I I I don't know that that's a wise move. Now, that's that's not necessarily for me to decide. I'm not an elective member of the board of education or the board of selectmen. If that's what the board of education and board of selectmen want to go back out with, you take the votes and make it happen and and I will help execute it. Right. But you know that that's a political discussion for for your elected leaders in town. >> Charles, it's me from the booth. That was our only
104person from Zoom and I know I think Tim had a comment and I think Ben has one. >> Yeah, he he's got the microphone. Go for it. >> We're muting those mics now. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um Mr. Guan said a lot of good things. Uh there's so much I could touch on. And uh just to give an example, the high school middle school is literally larger than all of our population would need square footage wise to put it in perspective how we got ourselves in trouble over the years. We have like 28,000 square feet and I think we would need somewhere around 160 to actually work as a community. So to give you an idea how overbuilt we are. Um a rabbit hole came up tonight and it's the best way
105I can describe it. Mr. You brought up a a good point about we need to get numbers out there of a million dollars in savings and things to that effect. And it's just not true. And I'm going to tell you why. And I want to make sure we're all on the same page. If we are going to turn over the brownstone and make it a town facility, that could be wonderful. That's great. Um, but there's a cost involved in that. So whatever savings we save on the right hand, we're going to be giving it to the left hand in the future. So for example, the electricity is still going to be there. arguably it's going to go up because we're adding air conditioning. You're still going to plow it. You're still going to mow it.
106You're still going to maintain it. Everything but facility. You know, Dr. Britain was completely accurate um when he mentioned there is going to be some administration savings potentially, things like that, maybe a school nurse, but that's about it. There isn't going to be this massive amount of money being saved to the community on the Brownstone scenario. You brought up the point of potentially closing Gildersleeve and you're right there. Uh there would be a savings, but there's also a cost and we had estimates of 5 million to tear the school down and then what do you do with the property? That sort of thing. So it's not as cut and dry as everybody wants to make it seem, but I just want to make sure we all fully understand. We have to do something as a
107community. Our buildings are in disarray. We're we're trying to move the ball forward in one way or another. The voters are going to speak. But I think the most important thing that was brought up tonight, Dr. Britain brought up that we should do. What is this going to cost? Because I think ultimately, and I think Mike Pelton did an excellent job bringing up the two points, how do you get this over the finish line? And I think the second one is so important because if it's just not achievable, we may have to look at things differently. My point is, if this is going to be a $50 million bill, which it's going to be if we choose to go this path, and then there's interest. You know, maybe it's 90 million to the taxpayers over
10825 or 30 years, but that's what it is. And then we have to see what comes online. I'm not sure the only thing I struggled that you said tonight. I'm not sure what the reval other than it would potentially shift from resident from commercial to residential burden. But other than that, you're not gaining any actual tax dollars. You're just potentially shifting them. But there's just a lot of moving components. And I think the most important thing is before somebody gets behind it, and I know you brought up the fair and going around trying to sell this, we need to get the facts. What's it going to cost? Can we afford it? How do we get this to the finish line? Which projects? Maybe we have to scrap one of the projects and do the rest
109or what. But these are the things that I think are more important. So I think fiscally it is very responsible that we get that done with what the new monies are coming in, what their burdens falling off. I think that is the most important thing to get this over the finish line in my opinion. But uh and thanks again Mr. Goon for your for your comments. >> Yeah. Uh thank you uh Dr. Britain. Uh you you did a fantastic job. This is like threedimensional chess and uh just kind of really uh laying a foundation walking us through with the conclusion that the committee worked on for eight long months. I mean, I can't even imagine. Uh, but there was a 7 to2 vote. >> Um, you did an excellent job explaining why you reached the
110conclusion, but what were the reason that you believe that there were two folks that voted no? >> Sure. >> In a in a positive sense, right? Just to hear the other side of it. There were two people that sat there every day and said no. >> Yeah. >> What was the reason? >> The two that voted no >> made a motion. We we It's on tape right there. The motion was made to decommission Valley View, turn Gildersleeve into a preK2, turn Brownstone into a 35, and move the sixth grade to the middle school. So the the two the the seven votes were for decommissioning Brownstone. That's really the the primary difference. The two votes were would have preferred to decommission Valley View. Thanks everyone. I think that is that about it. Not too bad. Let
111me keep you out too late. I know it's a lot. I'll just close by saying Carl, thanks again. That was a lot of work. I know, Jen, I see you're here. Thank you. Ju just I do I really appreciate that you said it was eight months of of hard work. It was a lot. This was a lot of time people gave away from their families. Nobody got paid on this committee. Everybody was passionate. You know, we didn't all get agree on everything, but who does in Portland as far as I can tell, right? I mean, but I think we did really good work and and we had really strong leadership from from Carl and from Laurel. I can't thank you guys enough for that. Um and you've done really good community service. And I also
112got to recognize all of you board of ed and board of selective members. Again, you're you're not here getting paid for any of this. You're here because you love the kids and you love the schools. And I have all the respect in the world for that. I think you're great people and and this is a really special town. So, that said, Mike, I'll let you close your meeting. All right. Dr. Burton, excellent job. Carl, thank you. Board of selectment members, board of ed members, thank you for being here. If you're watching at home, this will be the first of what I hope are going to be a number of meetings like this, both informative as well as interactive. So, I encourage you to pay attention, listen to what's going on out there. Click on the
113links and and dig into the into the reports if you want to, but more importantly, be aware and open to further discussion. There is a lot to unpack here. It's a big project. It's a lot of money. There are some passionate folks in here that believe on both sides uh that they're right, that they have a good idea for Portland, but it's a lot to do and we want to get it right. To quote Ben Ser, we want to get it right. >> Oh, yes. I would just ask that not everybody is connected to the internet, you know, and I'm not being facitious with saying that, but please get this in the River East. I think everybody reads the River East. if it's beating a dead horse in there or tell the people in the
114community that there will be handouts at the town hall or wherever. We could put them in places so people, you know, maybe some of the older people in town who don't use computers and everything can at least get access to this information and read it themselves and not hear it second and thirdand. Thank you. I want to re-emphasize that point because I think any vote, it's the the voter with the least amount of information that's more likely to vote no just because it's a scary number. Once you understand what the numbers are, what they do, um you're more likely to vote yes or at least understand it well enough to be able to get to yes. Um I want to address one more point too before I close up. Um Don asked about the school,
115the old school versus the old plan versus the new plan. Another big part of the difference too is having watched all of the meetings. Um, and they were a long time by the way, every meeting. Um, the new plan, the plan that you guys have presented tonight includes the capital improvements, includes the $2 million for Brownstone, includes $10 million for the middle school high school, whereas the original plan with Valley View did not include that. So, it's not an applesto apples comparison. But Don brings up a good point because a lot of people just don't know all the details. They don't know enough to know what to ask. So again, I encourage those of you that are in favor of it, those that have questions about it, get up and get out and advocate, talk
116about it, make sure it's good information. I will do everything I can between now and election time and now. And whenever we get this out in the referendum is to advocate what I feel is the best interest for the town. I think everyone is going to be doing the same thing. And I encourage you whether I agree or disagree with you um we should do we should be encouraging those to understand what the project is and how it works and how it will affect Portland in the next 5 10 20 years. Uh this is going to be a huge impact for a generation. So a lot to think about. So with that like to close the meeting and thank everyone for coming tonight. Thank you very much.