PACT Update/ facilities, November elections

Over the last several months the budget has taken center stage, and we can be proud (looking around the state) that despite the economy and some troublesome issues with town finances we have managed to avoid cutting teacher positions, programs, and class sizes. Bonding issues on the last referendum included roof improvements/replacements for Leete/Lakes and ~$1M in Adams improvements that passed overwhelmingly, indicating that the community is aware of infrastructure needs in the schools.

A BOE workshop, with guests from the BOF and BOS, will be focused on this tomorrow night, Monday June 22nd, at 7:00pm at the Firestation conference room at 390 Church St. All PACT members and supporters with an interest in this are encouraged to attend and comment.

As many are aware, the June 30th “deadline” for state funding will pass without a referendum for school infrastructure. Frankly, while the economy has presented significant challenges, bipartisan commitment and communication from all boards (BOE, BOS, BOF) has been lacking in addressing the school infrastructure issues. An email sent to leadership regarding this issue, which generated scant response, is attached. Unfortunately, it is likely that state funding for infrastructure will decrease SUBSTANTIALLY over the next year.

Despite the lack of leadership on infrastructure issues for the schools in Guilford over the last decade, I would encourage all citizens to not dwell on the past and to look forward to optimal solutions. This issue will not “go away”, whether it is us pushing for it or another group five to ten years later.

Recent debate at BOE meetings has centered around the concept of a “two-phase” referendum for GHS. This would involve allocating between $750K-$1M for actual architectural plans and would have the advantage of minimizing contingencies (~$20M on recent plans), while allowing the community to have a much clearer picture of how the money would be invested.

Timing has always been the crux of the issue.

We are now nearing election season for several of the Boards in the Fall. In particular, all five seats on the Board of Selectmen are open and terms will now be four years. Republican candidates for First Selectman include Joe Mazza and Ken Wilson; Democrats will likely put forth Gary MacElhiney (Land Acquisition Committee chair, see his comments on a video about the Goss property purchase at: http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/guilford-voters-overwhelmingly-approve-gos... ).

There are two major questions, particularly regarding what PACT should push for regarding school infrastructure:

• One or two phase referendum for the HS/ other improvements?
• Any question before the November ballot?

We encourage PACT members with opinions about this to communicate them to the Board, listed below.

PACT has established a board, currently including the following members:

Marian Breeze marian.breeze@guilfordpact.org 246-7606
Pamela Crair pjpcrair@gmail.com 453-0480
Sam Gerritz sgerritz@snet.net 444-1299
Karen Goldberg karengoldberg@ymail.com 453-3515
Mike Mikolay Mikolay@earthlink.net 887-2309
Jennifer Milano Jennifer_milano@earthlink.net 458-3380
Keith Mitzelfelt keith.mitzelfelt@guilfordpact.org 606-3779
Chris Moore chris.moore@guilfordpact.org cell 203-687-6776
Tina Roman troman@comcast.net 457-9091
Jim Wall jjwall@aol.com 710-6985

The purpose of the Board is to provide a focused group to address issues in detail and help determine the direction of PACT.

The forming of a Board is no way meant to minimize the contributions and necessity of each individual PACT member. Without members who are willing to pay attention and commit their time, energy, and ideas PACT will cease to exist and will have no influence.

One area that the board has discussed more emphasis on is community outreach.

PACT remains committed, short and long term, to providing adequate resources to our schools – infrastructure and operating budgets – through involvement in the political process. It is frustrating to many of us to see another year go by without significant improvements to the infrastructure. However, PACT has built significant resources over the past year and with persistence we will help solve infrastructure issues while maintaining resources for programming.

We are looking at some social events and a more general membership meeting in the near future.

Please contact myself or any of the board members if you have questions or ideas, particularly areas you would be willing to support. We would like to hear your thoughts about PACT direction.

This will be posted on the PACT blog at: http://guilfordpact.org/blog/8, comments are welcome,

Thank you for your support,

Sincerely,

Chris Moore