Merrimack Valley
June 27, 2007
School Committee Chairman William Kelly has said that would be cheaper than rehabilitating the Bradstreet School.
Whidden and fellow committee member Chris Allen praised the plan for the new building.
"It was an effort (at cooperation) that I really haven't seen in a long time," Allen said.
But Ormsby questioned the accuracy of the projected price tag.
"There's not a reliable estimate on what the 10 new classrooms are going to cost," Ormsby said.
The Bradstreet School used to house the town's kindergarten classes, but the School Department closed it in 2005 to save money.
Rees has a $9.2 million spending plan to convert the school into a police station. The plan includes using $1 million from selling the existing station and using $2.4 million in Community Preservation Act money. That money can be used because the town would be preserving a historic structure. The town would borrow the rest of the money.
Stanley said the next step in the process is to go out to bid to hire a project manager and an architectural firm to create the blueprints to rehabilitate the building.
Officials will present the construction plan to voters at Town Meeting next year, and the people will vote on whether or not to approve spending the money on construction, Stanley said.
Voters at Town Meeting in May already approved spending $930,000 on the renovation plans.
Bradstreet School destined to become a police station
NORTH ANDOVER - The empty Bradstreet School is now officially slated to become the new police station, thanks to a School Committee vote last night.
The committee voted 4-1 to declare the building, built in 1911, "no longer needed for school purposes." That will allow the town to turn it into a new home for the Police Department. Committee member Charles Ormsby cast the lone opposing vote.
Police Chief Richard Stanley, who has been saying the police need a new station for the last 20 years, sounded pleased to hear the news.
"I think it's an appropriate use of the building, and I think both the municipal side and the school side have to look at all of the community's needs, which seems like that is what is happening in town," Stanley said during a phone interview last night.
Stanley has been pointing out how the current station at 566 Main St. is cramped and deteriorating. It has only one bathroom for all of the 56 full-time employees, including a number of female officers and administrative staff.
Ormsby suspected he was in the minority before the committee voted.
"I have the sense this vote is already baked-in," he said.
But he still pressed his case that the committee has not received enough information to make a decision. He said he wants to hear the report from the facilities review subcommittee before voting. The subcommittee has been tasked with inspecting the schools and determining how to tackle their problems with space. Their study is not expected to be completed until later this summer.
"I see the trains as not arriving in the right order," Ormsby said.
Committee member Barbara Whidden acknowledged the schools are tight on classroom space.
"Clearly there is a space need," Whidden said. "All we have to do is go to Franklin Elementary and go to the library, and in it is a fourth-grade class. The books are pushed to the side and the kids are in the middle."
But she still voted to hand over the school. She referred to how officials are saying it would cost millions to make the upgrades necessary to put students back in the building.
"We'd be throwing good money after bad," Whidden said.
Town Manager Mark Rees and the Board of Selectmen have come up with a plan to erect a $4 million building next to Atkinson Elementary School, which would provide eight to 10 classrooms as well as space for a preschool.
The committee voted 4-1 to declare the building, built in 1911, "no longer needed for school purposes." That will allow the town to turn it into a new home for the Police Department. Committee member Charles Ormsby cast the lone opposing vote.
Police Chief Richard Stanley, who has been saying the police need a new station for the last 20 years, sounded pleased to hear the news.
"I think it's an appropriate use of the building, and I think both the municipal side and the school side have to look at all of the community's needs, which seems like that is what is happening in town," Stanley said during a phone interview last night.
Stanley has been pointing out how the current station at 566 Main St. is cramped and deteriorating. It has only one bathroom for all of the 56 full-time employees, including a number of female officers and administrative staff.
Ormsby suspected he was in the minority before the committee voted.
"I have the sense this vote is already baked-in," he said.
But he still pressed his case that the committee has not received enough information to make a decision. He said he wants to hear the report from the facilities review subcommittee before voting. The subcommittee has been tasked with inspecting the schools and determining how to tackle their problems with space. Their study is not expected to be completed until later this summer.
"I see the trains as not arriving in the right order," Ormsby said.
Committee member Barbara Whidden acknowledged the schools are tight on classroom space.
"Clearly there is a space need," Whidden said. "All we have to do is go to Franklin Elementary and go to the library, and in it is a fourth-grade class. The books are pushed to the side and the kids are in the middle."
But she still voted to hand over the school. She referred to how officials are saying it would cost millions to make the upgrades necessary to put students back in the building.
"We'd be throwing good money after bad," Whidden said.
Town Manager Mark Rees and the Board of Selectmen have come up with a plan to erect a $4 million building next to Atkinson Elementary School, which would provide eight to 10 classrooms as well as space for a preschool.
School Committee Chairman William Kelly has said that would be cheaper than rehabilitating the Bradstreet School.
Whidden and fellow committee member Chris Allen praised the plan for the new building.
"It was an effort (at cooperation) that I really haven't seen in a long time," Allen said.
But Ormsby questioned the accuracy of the projected price tag.
"There's not a reliable estimate on what the 10 new classrooms are going to cost," Ormsby said.
The Bradstreet School used to house the town's kindergarten classes, but the School Department closed it in 2005 to save money.
Rees has a $9.2 million spending plan to convert the school into a police station. The plan includes using $1 million from selling the existing station and using $2.4 million in Community Preservation Act money. That money can be used because the town would be preserving a historic structure. The town would borrow the rest of the money.
Stanley said the next step in the process is to go out to bid to hire a project manager and an architectural firm to create the blueprints to rehabilitate the building.
Officials will present the construction plan to voters at Town Meeting next year, and the people will vote on whether or not to approve spending the money on construction, Stanley said.
Voters at Town Meeting in May already approved spending $930,000 on the renovation plans.
- Merrimack Valley
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Earl-y preparations
Mark Lorenz/Staff photo Frank Kinzie, right, owner of Beverly Port Marina, carries items off the dock as a huge forklift pulls one of his customers’ boats from the water in anticipation of Hurricane Earl.
Meteorologists and emergency management experts are now saying that Earl's final path — whether it stays 100 to 200 miles out to sea before heading to Canada or takes a more direct line at New England — will be determined with much more clarity by day's end.
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Bail set for driver in Route 213 crash
Steven Kurelko was found to be a danger to the community, but was freed from custody after a judge set $5,000 cash bail and strict conditions for his release.
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Watchers say Golnik's failure to vote might hurt more than arrest
Don't count Jon Golnik out after news of his 2001 arrest broke this week, area political science professors said yesterday.
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