The Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) Committee met on May 20, 2026, to review proposed school district renovation phases and prioritize a wide range of capital projects for inclusion in the town's long-term plan. The meeting included a presentation from School District Maintenance Director Dean Farmer and extensive discussion and voting on project priority designations.
School District Phase 2 and Phase 3 Projects: Dean Farmer presented the next two phases of school renovations. Phase 2 (proposed for the 2028 ballot) focuses on Collie School, addressing rooftop units (ERVs), related controls, and roof leakage. Phase 3 (proposed for the 2030 ballot) addresses similar rooftop units at Underhill School and boiler replacements at both Collie and Underhill. Phase 1 (Memorial School) passed in March 2026 with nearly 70% voter support. Committee members raised questions about long-term maintenance planning, the assessment by Harvey Construction, and whether rooftop units are ventilation or air conditioning. Mr. Farmer explained that the assessment saved $500,000 by disproving a snow load issue, and that a 30-year capital improvement plan for smaller items is being executed through the budgeting process. The phase approach was adopted after voters rejected a larger bond two years ago.
Review of Fire Chief's Email: The committee briefly noted receipt of a detailed email from the Fire Chief regarding previous discussions, including the burn room. No further questions were raised.
Capital Project Prioritization: The committee systematically reviewed dozens of capital projects, assigning each a priority designation: N (Necessary), D (Desirable), R (Research), F (Deferable), or Urgent/Committed. Discussion covered projects from revaluation to vehicle replacements, fire apparatus, parks, and wastewater. Key topics included:
And then we'll let um Dean Farmer, but I don't know your position. I am the maintenance director. Maintenance director with the school go over its two projects. So we have Roger. No, we have Robert. No, we have Roger. Roger. I know, I know. He's got a twin brother, everybody knows, but anyways. He's the council rep. Andre Graham, the town administrator, Christine Tuxbury, the finance director. And Jared Williams. Yep, planning board rep. So who is not here would be. Hold on. Is Grant coming? Grant, I do not think it's coming. He had a lot of meetings today. Yeah, he is. So let's see. Bob Barker, school board rep is not in attendance. Will Lynch budget committee rep is not in attendance. And the uh hooks at Wastewater rep. Robert Duhain is not in attendance. All right. So we're at the meeting at the same time. The twins. Are they ever at the meeting of the tricky? Maybe there's not two of them. Maybe that's just the one. Are you similar? Yes. Yeah. One will walk out, the other one walk in and make a motion, no mic. So I'm gonna let uh Dean Farmer take over the school district renovations. I did email the worksheets to everybody when I sent out the meeting request. Excellent. Uh so as you all know, phase one of our construction project passed at the March ballot. Uh I want to thank you all for your support. Uh that was really great. The town came out, gave us almost 70% support. That was fantastic. Um in front of you is phase two and phase three of our school projects. Uh phase two, we're looking at putting on the ballot for the 2028 voting, and then phase three would be on the 2030 ballot voting. Um the phase two project is predominantly at the collie school. Uh similar to Memorial, they're on the same age, they're having this some of the same issues. Uh the rooftop units are all beyond useful life. Uh their corresponding controls that run them are also beyond their useful life. Uh, and then the roof we're having major leakage issues. And those are the three three major things that we'd be addressing with phase two.