SOUTH DEERFIELD — Residents split their votes on debt exclusions Monday, giving their blessing to an exemption for a more than $1.8 million capital improvement plan for Frontier Regional School, but rejecting the one for upgrades to the South Deerfield Wastewater Treatment Facility.
People at the polls voted 218 to 199 in favor of the debt exclusion for the regional school work, but they shot down the osewagew plant upgrade by a 194-to-226 vote. Both projects were previously approved, though they were contingent upon debt exclusion votes. Polls were open at Deerfield Town Hall from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday.
If the up to $1 million in funding for the South Deerfield Wastewater Treatment Facility had been approved, it would have supported replacing the mechanical system inside a secondary clarifier at the plant, per orders from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Selectboard Chairman Trevor McDaniel said Monday’s verdict means the town will have to schedule another debt exclusion vote, most likely in September. He said he will try to better convey to residents the dire need for the improvement work. David Prickett Consulting will continue to design a replacement clarifier for the plant, he said, though the town cannot yet apply for grants for the work as a result of Monday’s vote.
McDaniel said waiting will only make the work more expensive.
Public Works Superintendent Kevin Scarborough previously explainedthat the secondary clarifier — the tank that treats water before it makes contact with chlorine — failed in December 2017 when cold temperatures temporarily disabled electricity. The clarifier’s metal arm bent after power returned and the arm tried to move accumulated treated water.
Voters did approve borrowing $1,826,664, of which roughly $600,000 will cover the costs of designing and constructing a new track at Frontier Regional School, while $1,196,664 will pay for other improvements, including carpet replacement, roof repairs, upgrades to the building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and the oversight costs associated with the projects.
School Superintendent Darius Modestow has said the money would not be borrowed all at once, but rather through separate bonds. He said the money would be borrowed over 10 years.
The other Frontier Regional towns — Sunderland, Whately and Conway — have also agreed to the borrowing.
“This allows us to move forward,” Modestow said of Monday’s debt exclusion vote, adding that work will not begin until at least July 2020.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.