WILLIAMSBURG — Voters at Saturday’s special Town Meeting overwhelmingly signed off on construction of a new public safety complex, involving demolition of the Helen E. James School, for $5.1 million.
“The line was so long we didn’t actually get to start the meeting at 2 o’clock,” said Town Administrator Charlene Nardi.
More than 300 voters attended the meeting, and the vote was 259-48 for the article.
“I’m so excited to have this pass,” said Nardi.
The article was drafted by the Owner’s Project Manager Steering Committee, which was formed in 2017 to determine the site and scale of a new public safety complex. Jim Ayres chairs the committee and he said that he’s been involved with the public safety complex issue for more than six years.
“We thought it was a tremendous turnout,” said Ayres, of the meeting. “We thought that the conversation was very rich and productive.”
The town hired architecture firm Juster Pope Frazier to evaluate options for a public safety complex on the Helen E. James site. The firm determined that it would cost approximately $7.5 million to incorporate the school into the site. Another option, to make the necessary repairs to the school and build a complex on the site, was estimated at $6.7 million. Demolishing the school and building a complex, however, was estimated to cost $5.1 million.
Nardi said there was a half-hour discussion of the article before the question was called, and comments were overwhelmingly in favor of the project.
The vote authorizes the use of $1 million in town savings for the project, and borrowing $4.1 million for it. However, borrowing for the project must now pass a Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion vote.
“If that majority fails then we don’t have a project,” said Nardi.
The election will take place April 19 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with voters voting at the Town Offices in Haydenville. However, those who wish can also request an absentee ballot by reaching out to the town clerk.
“We hope as many people as possible will come out and support the project,” said Ayres.
Ayres said that those with questions about the project can reach out to the town administrator’s office, who can connect them with the committee. Or they can visit the committee’s page on the town website, which can be found at https://www.burgy.org/owners-project-manager-steering-committee-public-safety-complex.
The only other article on Saturday’s Town Meeting warrant, which asked authorization to take $57,073 from the Sewer Enterprise Fund to pay the balance of fiscal 2020 sewer service to the city of Northampton, passed unanimously.
Nardi attended fourth, fifth and sixth grade at the Helen E. James School, which closed its doors as a school in 2014 when all students in the elementary grades were enrolled at the renovated Anne T. Dunphy School.
“I have fond memories of that time,” she said.
However, Nardi said the project gives the town the opportunity to re-imagine the site, and she expressed her belief that the 19th-century philanthropist for whom the 1914 school is named would accept the town moving on from the structure.
“I think Helen E. James would be OK with that,” she said.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.