Landslide RTM Vote: Appropriation of $42 Million Approved for Central Middle School

The special RTM meeting Monday night at Central Middle School featured a vote on whether to approve a $42+ million appropriation for a new Central Middle School.

Last week, the Board of Estimate and Taxation voted to approve the funding after two outgoing Republican members – Bill Drake and Dan Ozizmir – voted with the six Democrats. Three Republicans – Leslie Tarkington, Harry Fisher and Nisha Arora – abstained and one, Karen Fassuliotis voted no.

Prior to that, the project received the necessary Municipal Improvement approval from the Planning & Zoning commission on Oct 17.

For anyone just starting to follow this ordeal, Central Middle School was condemned in Feb 2022. Students were dispersed for two weeks while the building was being shored up. The students were able to return to the building, but the repairs were intended to last only five years.

Children from the class of 2028 were at the ready with their signs outside the building before Monday’s special RTM meeting.

Their wish was granted.

The vote on combined calendar group including item 1 (to appropriate $42,017,00 to Central Middle School), item 2 (bonding resolution) and item 3  (CMS Resolution required by State Department of Administrative Services for grant approval/ reimbursement) was as follows:

179 Yes

4 No

2 Abstain

Here is a summary of the vote details from Aakash Patel.

RTM member Michael Spilo, who is the RTM liaison to the building committee and chairs the RTM public works committee, spoke as the principal opponent of the funding.

“America is founded on free thinking and brave people who stood up to bullying,” Spilo said. “Think freely. You know that this school is too large. It is designed to accommodate kids who haven’t been born, from homes that haven’t been built and may never be built.”

“You know that this design is wasteful and expensive and meant to increase solar generation so that we can pretend the building is net-zero ready, even though net zero is impossible.”

“Worse, this comes at a huge environmental cost for far more concrete, 2.4 acres of trees cut, blasted rock, paved over land, each of which individually dwarf the environmental benefit.”

“You also know that it all comes at a cost which negates by a very wide margin any savings from the energy solar panels.”

Spilo talked about a procedural train wreck, a broken process, and bullying for political purposes and a contrived timeline.

“Like MISA, the process was broken from the beginning and was being misused politically. The misuse is designed to force the vote now, before the election, specifically to attack some candidates as anti-schools. It’s not even the first time,” he added. “Some RTM members have publicly threatened me with removal for the past two terms.”

“Think freely. Be brave. Vote no,” Spilo said.

Lucia Jansen, chair of the Budget Overview Committee, said the committee supported the project, but that they were been asked, along with other RTM members, to deliberate and vote in a rushed emergency fashion on a new CMS cost of $112 million, which she said represented the largest capital project ever funded in Greenwich.

Board of Education chair Joe Kelly said he’d attended over 200 meetings regarding Central Middle School over the past two years, and that the BOE supported the project 100%.

Mr. Kelly said even before the building committee convened, there were meetings with the principal, parents, and dozens of others.

When the building committee was formed, he said there were dozens of additional meetings with architects and engineers.

“I believe this is a project that has to move forward,” he said.

Building committee chair Tony Turner said there had been many “false statements and misinformation about the project.”

“The building committee and BOE – we agree on the numbers. And we believe that value engineering is a process that will go to the end of the process. It is not an event that you only have at the beginning,” Turner said.

“The project has been vetted by a third party that is respected in our town, and to whom all professionals responded in writing. We found no changes necessary.”

“We looked at 8 building options, 9 site options,” he continued. “The cost planning includes a total of $19,028,000 in contingencies and that includes escalation.”

“Literally, tonight the world is watching this vote, knowing that the number one reason people move to Greenwich is quality of schools. Every real estate firm that serves our market around the globe will be talking first thing tomorrow morning about the vote of the RTM on the Central Middle School tonight.”

Matthew Kane, CMS PTA co-president, talked about moving goalposts.

“A new CMS is not a nice to have. It is critical infrastructure update necessary to serve and protect our students and community,” he said. “All that remains for you is to approve tonight’s CMS agenda items, to allow this project to move forward, to maximize state reimbursement and hopefully allow today’s third graders to begin their middle school experience in a new building.”

“It’s been incredibly frustrating to watch the goalposts move on this project over the past year. I’m sure among the very small number of speakers registered to speak against the project tonight, we’ll hear about their newly discovered love for rocks and trees or that they alone care for the safety and well-being of our children, and the numerous licensed and highly regarded professionals in our building committee are not to believe when they say that construction will be safe.”

“If you want to hear about bullying, come find me after and I’ll tell you about the bullying that the PTA members have been subjected to about this project over the past year,” he said. “These are not genuine concerns, as reflected by the fact that they keep coming up with new ones every time this project gets closer to approval.”

Frances Wu Nobay brought a megaphone to the podium to echo the words of the young children outside the school with their posters.

“Vote yes, vote yes for CMS,” she said. “All of those kids are now sleeping, doing their homework and running to practice.”

“It’s not been a smooth road, sadly,” Ms Wu Nobay said. “But the community support has been overwhelming from what we seem here tonight. Delays and price escalation seem inevitable, and we saw the town come together at the last BET meeting. This is your turn now,” she said to the RTM members.”

“Their 8-1-3 vote was an extremely pleasant surprise. We cheered when we heard that news,” she added. “The fact that this project has become such a divisive issue in this town is sad to see.”

State Rep Steve Meskers (D-150) spoke in favor of the building, but clarified some points.

“One, Hartford does not hate Greenwich,” he said, possibly a reference to a comment made by a Republican BET candidate at last week’s debate.

“I think that should be clear to all of us. Last week I had the pleasure of standing with the Governor in front of the Boys and Girls Club to deliver $6.5 million in bonding for the club.”

“Over the last couple of years we have achieved a number of bonding requests thanks from the cooperation I have from my delegation in the House,” he said. “We will work tirelessly to get the bonding approved at the capital.”

“On a side note, you can expect I never will be sending you any notes from my desk with a survey,” Meskers added before being interrupted by the moderator. His comment may have been a reference to the widely distributed emails sent from former Republican State Rep Harry Arora.

Steph Cowie, liaison to the building committee from the First Selectman’s Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities, said the project had strong community support.

“The determination of the location of the new school – safety and accessibility have been at the forefront of guiding this committee on every decision,” she said. “They have dealt with a tremendous amount of safety stressors that encroach on this property – whether it is safety of children in place, pedestrians, roads, accessibility, cyclists, vehicles – trying to strike a balance.”

“The new school’s position provides sight lines of the entire campus perimeter, paramount to keeping our children and staff safe, adhering to CT Post-Sandy Hook School Safety Infrastructure Standards, which is all hazard safety framework.”

“Additionally, safety and security for our students in place during construction is of highest priority,” she added. “Turner Construction implements many mitigation actions and addresses all risk.”

Lastly, she said ADA accessibility was much more than wider doors and hallways. “The new building provides a space where delivery of education can be received and experienced by all abilities – learning achieved with no barriers to those with disabilities.”

Clare Kilgallen, who previously served on the New Lebanon building committee said she was on the CMS building committee to “pay it forward.”

“I’m here to pay it forward for you and for everyone in this town to preserve the value proposition of what is great about Greenwich: services and schools. Period.”

“Somebody is suggesting this is about politics. This is about time and money. It is our duty under the charter of this town to build this committee. We are not the un-building committee. We are the building committee. We are the proponents for this project. We are not neutral. We are supposed to make the project happen. We have moved forward with deliberation, and ask for your support tonight on the appropriation.”

“Please deliver an early Halloween treat to the children and residents of this town by voting yes on all the CMS items,” Kilgallen said.