'Logic Dictates We Needed That Building'

A “huge disappointment.” That's what school board member George Markwell called the failure of an article to construct a new building that would consolidate the superintendent's office and the special services office into one building.

Although it squeaked by with a majority vote, the $1.5 million bond did not earn the super majority vote it needed to pass during Tuesday's election.

Of the 1,875 votes cast on the question, 963 voted in favor of the building project, while 912 voters said “no.” It would have needed 1,127 votes to pass.

“Even for a conservative-minded person like myself, logic dictates we needed that building,” Markwell said following the announcement of the vote.

Markwell, who was the school board liaison to the Planning and Building Committee said it was disappointing that the numerous meetings and presentations held to explain to residents the poor condition these houses are in did not resonate enough for voters to approve the project.

“I thought we'd presented a pretty clear case why this building is needed,” Markwell said.

The two ranch-style houses that these offices have been located in for the last 40 years are inadequate to serve the district Markwell said. They lack security, space, functionality, are not handicapped accessible and the special services building especially, needs significant structural repairs.

In November, the roof blew off of the blue house – the special services office – during Hurricane Sandy. The roof, some walls and ceilings needed to be replaced and all the carpet in the building had to be ripped up. In attempting to repair the basement significant mold and asbestos problems curtailed that and the offices in the basement were vacated until those problems could be addressed.

The repairs were put on hold, as it didn't make sense to put money into a building that might have been replaced with Tuesday's vote, but now, Markwell said, those problems need to be addressed.

“Now we're going to need to spend money to fix buildings that are 40 plus years old and that still doesn't solve all the problems there,” Markwell said.

During a year and a half long look into the options for replacing the buildings, the planning and building committee explored options of new construction, leasing space in town, and renovating existing space in James Mastricola Upper Elementary School as possible solutions. While there is space to put the special services office in JMUES, it would require renovating the school and adding a separate entrance for security purposes.

Markwell said the problem with that, while it seems like a good solution was first the expense, the renovation would cost twice as much per square foot than new construction, Markwell said. Secondly, if the population were to trend back up the district would be looking at retrofitting the space back to classrooms or having to add to or build a new school. All that said, renovating JMUES also doesn't address the needs at the Superintendent's office, because that plan would only accommodate Special Services.

Planning and Building Committee Chairman Rich Hendricks said right now, there is no Plan B. The committee will have to sit down with the school board to figure out where to go from here, and more specifically what needs to be addressed first at the houses to make them fully usable again for at least another year.

"It's disappointing for the people who spent so much time working on this project and it's disappointing for the people who have to work in substandard conditions," Hendricks said. "They're the ones who lose here."

Hendricks said despite it all, the vote did gain a majority vote, so there is a realization in town that something needs to be done. Hendricks said most voters with whom he spoke were in favor of the building, so they will need to regroup over the coming days and talk to get a feeling of what they want to see. He said he understands the concern over the tax burden, but he didn't think that was the only reason it was turned down. And that's what they will need to find out more about.

“Obviously, we have a little more work and a little more educating to do,” Hendricks said. 

Though it's a matter of putting more money into old buildings, one thing Hendricks said is a good thing is the voters agreed to close out three unused capital reserve funds and put that $67,000 into the emergency repairs fund. The money in that fund will be dipped into for emergency repairs that are needed to make the houses work as best they can.

“We've got to make those buildings usable for at least the next year,” School Board member Andy Schneider said.

Though the new building didn't pass, everything else on both the town and school warrants did, including the $63 million budget and the Merrimack Teachers Association contract on the school side. Shannon Barnes and Chris Ortega each earned their spots back on the Merrimack School Board with 1,264 and 1,268 votes respectively. Gary Krupp lost his second bid in a row for a spot on the board, coming up short with 896 votes.

A write in vote for the fourth seat on the budget committee meant there were 953 ballots to count to determine a winner and those results were not available at this writing.

On the town ballot, the $28.7 million budget passed as did all five of the collective bargaining agreements that were up for a vote. The agreement with the Department of Public Works has yet to be hammered out and mediation will occur now that the town meeting season is over. Dan Dwyer was re-elected to the Town Council with 1,353 votes while Dave Yakuboff made his return to the board with 1,301.

Dave McCray, a former Town Councilor, earned a spot on the Ethics Committee, via write-in votes. There were 205 write-ins to count.

A total of 2,061 ballots were cast on Tuesday, which represents about 11 percent of the town's approximately 18,000 voters – a statistic that was not a surprise, but still didn't sit well with Markwell.

“While it's disappointing the building didn't pass, I'm also disappointed more people aren't getting involved,” Markwell said.

Related Election Day stories:

• No New SAU Office For Merrimack 
• 2013 Town Meeting: School Ballot Results
• 2013 Town Meeting: Municipal Ballot Results