At the Aug. 23 special meeting of the Cheshire Town Council, a resolution to send the $166.6 million school modernization project to referendum passed unanimously.
Now, it will be up to the voters to decide whether the plan moves from concept to reality.
Cheshire public school officials in attendance clapped enthusiastically as the vote was made, signaling that the long grind toward the proposed project has finally come to an important milestone. If the referendum is approved by voters, two new schools are slated for construction: One will be an entirely-new elementary school to be built on a Town-owned parcel of land located off Marion and Jarvis Roads. The other will be a redesigned and rebuilt Norton School at the current location off North Brooksvale Road. Darcey and Chapman schools will be closed and ownership will revert to the town. Costs to taxpayers will, however, be significant.
This is the first phase of what officials hope to be a multi-year effort that will address each school in the district. Future projects have yet to be finalized.
Just one citizen, Ray Ilnicki, spoke at the meeting. He commended the Council for its hard work to better the schools, dating all the way back to 2010, but also questioned members about future costs and the quality of information available to voters. “You ought to be transparent with the public,” he said, suggesting that many in Cheshire are not familiar with the issue. Council Chairman Tim Slocum replied at length, saying “every member of this Council, everyone who’s worked on this project is trying to be as transparent as we possibly can.”
Because the referendum will appear on the ballot this November, public officials stated that they will no longer offer public advocacy for the project, per Connecticut state elections law and adhering to the advice of Town Attorney Jeffrey Donofrio. However, each member spoke passionately in favor of the project during the meeting.
Councilor Don Walsh pointed out that the proposed spending represents the largest expenditure in Cheshire’s history, while tracing the origins of this process back 17 years. “People have said, the Council has kicked the can down the road so many times. We’re not kicking it down any more. We’re here. This is the opportunity for this town. We have vetted just about every scenario we possibly could.”
“We sat here in a candidate’s forum and to a person we all agreed that this referendum that we’re looking at tonight was the most important thing that we were facing as a Council, as a town, and certainly as a Board of Education. We all supported it. We didn’t always agree on how we were going to get there but now that we’re here we are absolutely lock-step with this passing,” said Councilor Peter Talbot.
“If we do not do this now, it will be too many years until we can address the issue again,” opined Councilor Sylvia Nichols.
Other proponents of the plan pointed to state funding as a key reason to support it in November.
“You as taxpayers have all the information that you could possibly need. This is the right time to do this. We are receiving 50% reimbursement. If we don’t take advantage of this now, we’re not going to do it,” said Councilor Sandra Pavano. “We’re never going to get the opportunity for the finances that we have now. We do not want to see our students in trailers at the schools. We want to give them the best future that we possibly can and the future is in our hands and in your hands.”
Councilor John Milone mentioned that “it’s important for townspeople to understand that if they’re concerned about details of the project, the projects have not been fully designed yet. As with any development within the community, it will go through a regulatory process. There will be plenty of opportunity to consider things like traffic impact and architecture, and impact on wetlands, just like any other development. So don’t feel that if you vote for this you won’t have opportunity for input into the remainder of the project. There will be plenty of opportunity for townspeople to be involved in that process.”
Councilor David Veleber pointed out that given the “current state of our schools and potential enrollment projections, this is designed to address those issues in a way that we address the needs of the system, not necessarily the wants of the system. I know it’s expensive but this is a choice that we’re going to be faced with for both the improvement of our school system and the improvement of our town going forward. We will put the information out there and put it in the hands of the voters, see where they want to go. I think … this will provide growth for our schools but also for our town over the next decades.”
Councilor David Borowy made the economic argument that, not only have some capital items been deferred to make the plan more reasonable, but that better schools will increase home values and resale values across Cheshire. He also made a more personal plea. “When my grandparents moved here in the 1930s, they were lucky that people had good schools before that. When my parents in the 1960s moved here, they also had good schools and the people before them had voted for them. And in the 1990s when I was on the Council we voted on this. It seems every generation there’s an opportunity to do this and it’s time. People like me, my kids are gone now, they’re out of schools, they graduated from Cheshire schools, and I’m supporting this because I know there’s a next generation to come and that’s how the history works.”
Councilor Jim Jinks said “it’s been 50 years since we built a school, the newest one (was built in) 1971 and our other schools are much older. We need to continue to invest in our greatest resource which is our schools and our students and our families.”
Slocum finished out the Council speeches, urging Cheshire residents to “seek out the information that’s going to make you better informed. Feel free to call any one of us. We want your questions, we want you to be engaged. It’s a heavy lift for every taxpayer in town, but it’s an uplifting lift. It’s going to upgrade and uplift our community.”
At the Aug. 23 special meeting of the Cheshire Town Council, a resolution to send the $166.6 million school modernization project to referendum passed unanimously.
Now, it will be up to the voters to decide whether the plan moves from concept to reality.
Cheshire public school officials in attendance clapped enthusiastically as the vote was made, signaling that the long grind toward the proposed project has finally come to an important milestone. If the referendum is approved by voters, two new schools are slated for construction: One will be an entirely-new elementary school to be built on a Town-owned parcel of land located off Marion and Jarvis Roads. The other will be a redesigned and rebuilt Norton School at the current location off North Brooksvale Road. Darcey and Chapman schools will be closed and ownership will revert to the town. Costs to taxpayers will, however, be significant.
This is the first phase of what officials hope to be a multi-year effort that will address each school in the district. Future projects have yet to be finalized.
Just one citizen, Ray Ilnicki, spoke at the meeting. He commended the Council for its hard work to better the schools, dating all the way back to 2010, but also questioned members about future costs and the quality of information available to voters. “You ought to be transparent with the public,” he said, suggesting that many in Cheshire are not familiar with the issue. Council Chairman Tim Slocum replied at length, saying “every member of this Council, everyone who’s worked on this project is trying to be as transparent as we possibly can.”
Because the referendum will appear on the ballot this November, public officials stated that they will no longer offer public advocacy for the project, per Connecticut state elections law and adhering to the advice of Town Attorney Jeffrey Donofrio. However, each member spoke passionately in favor of the project during the meeting.
Councilor Don Walsh pointed out that the proposed spending represents the largest expenditure in Cheshire’s history, while tracing the origins of this process back 17 years. “People have said, the Council has kicked the can down the road so many times. We’re not kicking it down any more. We’re here. This is the opportunity for this town. We have vetted just about every scenario we possibly could.”
“We sat here in a candidate’s forum and to a person we all agreed that this referendum that we’re looking at tonight was the most important thing that we were facing as a Council, as a town, and certainly as a Board of Education. We all supported it. We didn’t always agree on how we were going to get there but now that we’re here we are absolutely lock-step with this passing,” said Councilor Peter Talbot.
“If we do not do this now, it will be too many years until we can address the issue again,” opined Councilor Sylvia Nichols.
Other proponents of the plan pointed to state funding as a key reason to support it in November.
“You as taxpayers have all the information that you could possibly need. This is the right time to do this. We are receiving 50% reimbursement. If we don’t take advantage of this now, we’re not going to do it,” said Councilor Sandra Pavano. “We’re never going to get the opportunity for the finances that we have now. We do not want to see our students in trailers at the schools. We want to give them the best future that we possibly can and the future is in our hands and in your hands.”
Councilor John Milone mentioned that “it’s important for townspeople to understand that if they’re concerned about details of the project, the projects have not been fully designed yet. As with any development within the community, it will go through a regulatory process. There will be plenty of opportunity to consider things like traffic impact and architecture, and impact on wetlands, just like any other development. So don’t feel that if you vote for this you won’t have opportunity for input into the remainder of the project. There will be plenty of opportunity for townspeople to be involved in that process.”
Councilor David Veleber pointed out that given the “current state of our schools and potential enrollment projections, this is designed to address those issues in a way that we address the needs of the system, not necessarily the wants of the system. I know it’s expensive but this is a choice that we’re going to be faced with for both the improvement of our school system and the improvement of our town going forward. We will put the information out there and put it in the hands of the voters, see where they want to go. I think … this will provide growth for our schools but also for our town over the next decades.”
Councilor David Borowy made the economic argument that, not only have some capital items been deferred to make the plan more reasonable, but that better schools will increase home values and resale values across Cheshire. He also made a more personal plea. “When my grandparents moved here in the 1930s, they were lucky that people had good schools before that. When my parents in the 1960s moved here, they also had good schools and the people before them had voted for them. And in the 1990s when I was on the Council we voted on this. It seems every generation there’s an opportunity to do this and it’s time. People like me, my kids are gone now, they’re out of schools, they graduated from Cheshire schools, and I’m supporting this because I know there’s a next generation to come and that’s how the history works.”
Councilor Jim Jinks said “it’s been 50 years since we built a school, the newest one (was built in) 1971 and our other schools are much older. We need to continue to invest in our greatest resource which is our schools and our students and our families.”
Slocum finished out the Council speeches, urging Cheshire residents to “seek out the information that’s going to make you better informed. Feel free to call any one of us. We want your questions, we want you to be engaged. It’s a heavy lift for every taxpayer in town, but it’s an uplifting lift. It’s going to upgrade and uplift our community.”
Checking status…
No Account? Sign Up Here.
Print Subscriber? Activate your FREE Digital Subscription Here.
View and update your account information here
Need to get in touch with us? Contact circulation at circulation_[at]_record-journal.com
Home News Sports Obituaries Contact Us
Sign Up for our Newsletters
Copyright 2022
500 South Broad St, 2nd Floor, Meriden, CT 06450
203-272-5316
circulation@cheshireherald.com
Advertising Manager: jmizener@rjmediagroup.com
Editor: jrook@cheshireherald.com
The Cheshire Herald
Our mission: To be the primary catalyst that motivates people to contribute to the intellectual, civic and economic vitality of our communities.
Copyright 2022