Members of the Select Board took a vote Thursday to put their displeasure on the record about how the School Committee is proceeding with paving work on Loop Road as part of the Hopkins School project.

While agreeing that the repairs are needed, some members felt expanding the scope of the project is a matter that should come before Town Meeting for a vote.

But School Committee members disagreed, saying it is connected to the Hopkins School renovation/addition project and they have the authority to decide how previously approved funds can be used.

Town counsel and school counsel both agreed the School Committee has oversight of the project’s scope and distribution of its funds.

Project scope changed

At a previous meeting, the School Committee approved a change order, not to exceed an estimated $1.8 million, to repave a larger area of Loop Road at the Hopkins School site and replace existing sidewalks. The work does not include repaving existing parking lots.

School Committee chair Kyla McSweeney said the committee is committed “to transparency, ensuring alignment with procurement guidance and continuing to prioritize student access, safety and site functionality.”

McSweeney spoke about a May 2013 vote to repair a 1,100-foot section of Loop Road — from Hayden Rowe Street toward Hopkins School. At the time, an engineering study estimated the road’s life span at 14 years, which would end in 2027.

She said the current engineer talked about factors affecting the mill/overlay pavement, including traffic loads, the underlying base conditions from the original road construction, drainage and maintenance.

This engineer put the life span at 8-10 years, with the understanding that crack sealing is part of regular maintenance, McSweeney added.

“Loop Road is a driveway to Hopkins School,” she said. “It is used by buses [transporting students] in and out and as part of curriculum.” In addition, children frequently walk and bike on it, as do community members during non-school hours.

Part of the Hopkins School project includes paving of about one quarter of Loop Road, McSweeney noted. Vehicles, pavers, contractors and supervision of them is in place.

“To stop and pick up a year later seems quite silly,” McSweeney said. Waiting also could increase costs and interfere with transfer of modular classrooms from Elmwood School happening at the same time.

Susan Rothermich, assistant superintendent of finance and operations, noted the work had gone through the Conservation Commission process and is moving forward. The district is receiving bids to determine who the contractor will be.

She said the expanded scope was not put on a warrant because it fit within the “four corners” of a project that previously was authorized.

Process questioned

Select Board chair Joe Clark noted that Town Meeting is May 2, and he did not see a timing issue about getting a question placed on the warrant. “This is strictly about process,” he said. “This goes against our town form of government and how we make capital [expense] decisions.”

Select Board member Shahidul Mannan said he understood the rationale and drivers of the school district and its legal right to proceed. However, Mannan said he hoped the situation would open dialogue about more “streamlined transparency” in the future.

Select Board member Matt Kizner said that if the matter was put on the warrant, he would be in favor of it. But he noted this approach does not adhere to the way capital expenses typically are approved and validated at Annual Town Meeting.

“I’m incredibly concerned that this looks like a circumvention of that process,” Kizner said. “The fact that you went before the Appropriations [Committee] and are speaking to us tells me that you believe that this does walk like a duck, it quacks like a duck and it could perhaps be a duck.”

Kizner added that the School Committee is aware of the concern in town about the way this situation looks.

He said the School Committee might have the authority to proceed this way, but it “seems to be going around the capital process and making a unilateral decision on behalf of the community on how unspent dollars can now be allocated. … You are opening up a big can of worms.”

Kizner noted the School Department always has been supported at Town Meeting and he believed it would be again, but he added, “The community won’t be excited about being disenfranchised from expressing their opinion.”

Select Board member Amy Ritterbusch brought up the option of a Special Town Meeting within the annual session, later clarifying that she was not advocating for it — only offering a suggestion.

Ritterbusch said that because both counsels were consulted and had the opinion it was within the School Committee’s purview, she had no objections.

Select Board member Brian Herr agreed it should be on a Special Town Meeting warrant but said work on the parking lots adjacent to Loop Road should be included.

Herr said the community would support the work but through the Town Meeting process. “But if you don’t give them a bite of the apple, we’ll be hearing it into the future.”

Rothermich pointed out the schools did not have the authority to include parking lots, and that would prompt a return to the Conservation Commission, with potential for delays and ultimately higher costs.

School Committee member Jamie Wronka said parking lots do not fall within the scope of the Hopkins project, but the Loop Road “driveway” does.

Intent discussed

Wronka also assured Select Board members there was never an attempt at circumventing the process. “It was always with the intent to find an efficient use of funds approved for the project within its four corners,” she said.

Wronka said it is unfortunate some residents went to Select Board meetings to complain about the School Committee vote instead of going to them.

McSweeney said the change order vote was taken at a public meeting, and residents had the opportunity then to attend and comment.

Wronka added that the situation resulted in a more “contentious head” than was necessary. She said differing opinions are fine, but some of the tone made the conversation adversarial.

School Committee member Nancy Cavanaugh agreed, saying the committee wanted to work in a cooperative way that serves the town.

Kizner responded that being “chided” for tone did not change his opinion.

“I’m not chiding you. I’m providing my opinion,” Cavanaugh said.

Opinion put on record

Kizner said he wanted the Select Board’s views on the record “to capture where our minds are on this.”

Although the vote did not change anything, he added, it would document members’ thoughts.

Ritterbusch and Mannan’s “yes” votes meant they supported the School Committee’s “use of existing funds” previously approved by Town Meeting.

Kizner, Clark and Herr voted “no.”

Clark apologized to the School Committee if some wording came across as negative.

The Select Board is going to explore the feasibility of having a Special Town Meeting on the same date at Annual Town Meeting.

Following the Select Board’s adjournment, School Committee vice chair Susan Stephenson said the work being under the schools’ purview makes sense to her. “It’s all one thing,” she said. “Logically, Loop Road is only used by the schools.”

Cavanaugh said there are no “red flags” with anything the committee did by approving the change order. She said, however, she supported the possibility of a Special Town Meeting.

“It’s a different means to the same end,” Cavanaugh said. “We don’t need the extra noise going around and to lose focus on something that badly needs to be done.”