New pool floor? New school roof? Town must decide what it wants first

KENT - A special Board of Finance meeting held last week saw the board call for the Board of Selectmen to prioritize and decrease the current capital plan as well as the five-year plan.

According to the board, prioritizing of the list will help them to assess the town's needs and will assist them in making cuts to the capital plan which, at this point, the board is not comfortable with.

On hand at the meeting were representatives of many boards and commissions in Kent. Norman Vandervoort, who serves on the Board of Education and is chairman of the Kent Center School Building Committee, was there to explain the schools monetary needs.

High on the list is repair of a leaky roof ; the cost has grown to $540,000, a substantial increase from the $300,000 that was requested last year and added to the 2009-10 fiscal plan. Vandervoort warned against further deferment, saying it would only allow costs to balloon further.

He also cautioned that putting off the repair would allow further damage to the building from the leaks.

After much discussion, the finance board seemed to concur that the roof, which is more than 30 years old, is a valid concern and a worthy of consideration for this year's budget.

Selectman Bruce Adams and Town Crew Foreman Rick Osborne explained their request for a mower for the fields at Kent Center School that could also be converted into a snow-clearing machine in the winter.

According to Osborne, with this machine the highway department would be able to carry out all the mowing, not just at the school but at town sites as well, without having to contract out the work.

The new machine would cost about $40,000, according to Adams, and would save on the cost of contracting out the mowing at a cost to the town of as much as $2,200 per month.

In what was probably the most popular move of the night, Osborne reported that the request for a communications facility at the site of the Verizon cell tower can now be removed from the budget.

The facility would have housed fire department and highway department equipment.

This equipment will be set up in a pre-existing area above the town garage instead.

Lesly Ferris, director of Park and Recreation, was on hand to defend Park and Recreation's request for $150,000 to repair the floor of the pool at Emory Park.

When finance board member Paul Abbott questioned why a floor is necessary, Ferris responded that, among other things, it ensures the safety of the swimmers. Concrete from the older sections of flooring in the pool is starting to pop up and could create a hazard.

Ferris also said that if the project is deferred, the pool can be drained and reassessed at the end of the season.

Once again the board called for prioritization of the requests citing that it is not their responsibility to determine which project, be it a roof or a pool, is more important.

During this meeting the budget was not formalized but it was determined that it would need to be cut. The board has decided to discuss it further at their next meeting and has requested input from the Board of Selectmen.