The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Vote set for school building project
Council wants public decision on $156M plan
TORRINGTON — When city voters head to the polls on Election Day in November, they’ll also be asked to vote in a referendum for the proposed Torrington High School building project.
Members of the City Council set the referendum date of Nov. 3 during their meeting this week, after accepting a favorable review of the building project from the Planning and Zoning Commission.
In both votes, the board was split in their opinion, three in favor, one abstention and two against, leaving Mayor Elinor Carbone to make the deciding “yes” vote to move the school renovation project forward to the voters.
According to a Board of Education presentation made to the City Council in May, building a new high
school would cost $156 million. With reimbursement from the state at 62.5 percent, the estimated cost to the taxpayers would be $71.6 million.
The motion considered Monday by council members read “(T)o accept the recommendation of the Board of Finance and adopt Resolution #143-204 authorizing an appropriation of $159,575,000 for the construction of a new high school, a new middle school, a new central administrative office, and the demolition of the existing Torrington High School, and the financing of said appropriation by the issuance of general obligation bonds of the City and notes in anticipation of such bonds in an amount not to exceed $159,575,000 therefor, as well as establishing a date for a referendum, and other matters including the preparation and printing of Explanatory Text.”
The council chose Election Day after discussing a proposed referendum date of Sept. 20. Carbone referred to a list of previous Election Day votes that also included referendums on city projects, which in some cases reflected a low voter turnout. But this year, Election Day is likely to draw a higher voter turnout.
Council member Ann Ruwet didn’t want a school project vote in September. “If we move it to the Nov. 3 election, I’d be supportive of the resolution,” she said.
“I supported this right from the beginning because of the time and resources involved towards this project,” Ruwet said. “It’s up to the voters. I wish (the cost of the project) was lower, but this is a vote for the people. We get more voters out for an election, and for this kind of referendum, we need to have it on Nov. 3.”
Councilman Paul Cavagnero reiterated his opinion on building a new high school, saying he would not approve holding a referendum now.
“I’m voting no for the reasons I’ve articulated in the past,” he said.
“I appreciate the work and meetings that went into this, but the hard fact is that quarantining has changed the landscape for all manner of schools,” Cavagnero said. “There’s an opportunity here to rethink using remote learning in such a way that our highperforming students can work from home, and our not-as-high performing students can work at home one day a week ... then (find) all kinds of savings; food, busing, insurance costs.
“What I’m saying is, I would prefer that the Board of Education take the next year to think about an integrated curriculum and what it would look like. Leverage Oliver Wolcott Tech and THS assets,” Cavagnero said.
“I agree we need a new school. We do, I get it,”
Cavagenero said. “But my preference would be to come up with a curriculum that addresses a key question: how are we going to do this cheaper? We can’t afford it. So with the possibility of remote learning on the table, once we have a firm idea of what we need, then let’s talk about the school and what kind of footprint would the school need ... To me, it’s the cart before the horse.”
Cavagnero voted no, along with David Oliver, while Frank Rubino abstained. Ruwet and Sharon Waagner voted yes. As the tie-breaker, Carbone voted yes.
“I want to express my thoughts on this,” Carbone said. “I agree with Paul’s comments on how the pandemic has changed things. I agree there’s a lot of education that needs to take place for the public to understand the long-term ramifications of building new schools, and a central office, and what will happen to the buildings that are left, including the central office building.
Carbone said there is a lot of information the public deserves to hear before they vote.
“But two years of work has taken place on this,” she said. “I heard a remark early in the Board of Education presentation, asking that six people not be asked to be in position to make this decision. The taxpayers need to vote on this, so saying that, I’m going to vote in favor of this resolution.”