Letter to the Editor: Too Many ‘Wants’ in Proposed Building Plan, Vote ‘Emphatically No’

To the Editor:

As a prior member of the 2000 project Building Committee and having spent 20+ years designing and administering school projects in Connecticut, I can’t vote for this referendum.

First, we spent $36 million on the four schools in 2000. Now add $57 million and we will have spent a total of $93 million on four buildings … or $23,250,000 on each building … or approximately $1 million a year per building for 22 years!

Something is wrong with this picture. I’m not sure how this “snowball” got started but I think it’s rolled downhill too fast!

It’s obvious enrollment was not the impetus … perhaps HVAC was. And the fact that a lot of the HVAC work is not reimbursable is beside the point. 

To jump to “Renovate as New” only greatly expands the project scope/cost … the increased reimbursement does not justify the scope expansion.

If HVAC is what’s truly needed, let’s do that work … state participation or not. I’ve looked for a list of eligible/ineligible items with associated dollars but cannot find it. 

I could go on and on with questions regarding the proposal but I feel there are way too many “wants” rather than “needs.”

I implore all to vote emphatically No to this referendum.

Sincerely,

Charlie Meek,
Old Lyme.