BOF Approves Referendum for Schematic Plans for GHS

Submitted by gpact_admin on Tue, 05/18/2010 - 19:57

Hello Guilford PACT members and supporters,

Due to a technical issue, we are resending this updated e-mail with an added attachment.

Last Monday night, the Guilford Board of Finance held its regular meeting at the Community Center. Typically, BOF meetings are pretty dry, and that was certainly the case prior to item 6 on the agenda: the schematic design referendum. We were pleased to hear each member provide reasoned, bipartisan, and enthusiastic support for a resolution sending to the voters a referendum for schematic designs for Guilford High School as a necessary next step in acquiring the information we need to make an informed financial decision.

The referendum is scheduled to take place on June 16th, the day after school lets out for the summer (see item 5 below). All 5 polling locations will be operating.

This referendum will provide funds for plans that would enable Guilford citizens to see how much a new facility would cost within a tighter tolerance, and what we'd receive for the investment in our community. Although the referendum has received unanimous support from both parties in each of the 3 town boards, the decision to proceed has been placed in the hands of the citizens of Guilford. It is of critical importance that this referendum is approved, so we will be ramping up our full get-out-the-YES-vote effort.

We will be recording the relevant part of the meeting and making it available via the web as soon as possible.

Next steps for PACT:

  1. You are invited and encouraged to attend our general meeting on Monday, May 24th at 7:30 PM at the Fire Station. Please attend to discuss our strategy for getting out the YES vote on the referendum scheduled for June 16th. If you're a "big picture" type of person, you'll want to be at this meeting. Please bring like-minded friend(s).
  2. We maintain a database of all registered voters. For the sake of maximizing our effectiveness, we need your help in identifying probable YES voters. Please think of 10 likely YES voters -- we'll leave it to your discretion if you want to contact those people yourself and report the results back to us or if you just want to pass on the names for us to contact directly (name & phone number to keith.mitzelfelt@guilfordpact.org).
  3. We will be handing out flyers at events all over town (see attached). If you'd like to help spread the word, please ask our volunteers for more information. You can also forward this e-mail with attachment to other YES voters.
  4. The Superintendent's office is conducting a presentation and public tours of the high school as shown below. GHS students will be present and helping to conduct tours, so this is a chance to hear their feelings about the building and how they believe it has impacted their education.
    • May 27th - 6:30 PM presentation in the GHS library, followed by a 7:30 PM tour; and
    • June 10th - 6:30 PM tour followed by a 7:30 PM presentation in the GHS auditorium.
  5. Note that June 16th is the day after school lets out. If you plan on leaving town for vacation right after school lets out, you may vote by absentee ballot beginning on or about June 9th. Please contact the Town Clerk's office for details (203-453-8001).

Thanks, and we hope to see you at next Monday's meeting.