Politics at its worst.
That was the reaction of First Selectwoman MaryAnn Drayton-Rogers Tuesday, upon learning that the town’s Board of Finance rejected a $1.8 million project to install a metal roof and add 410 solar panels to the Great Oak Middle School.
The Finance Board rejected the project 3 – 2 Monday. Republicans on the board voted against it. Democrats voted for it. Jack Kiley, a Republican, abstained, saying the board needed more time to make a decision.
The project — as envisioned by the school’s roof and solar panel committee — was supposed to replace the school’s 20-year-old asphalt roof.
It’s been in the pike for awhile — and the money was budgeted in the town’s 2009 capital plan.
“I am extremely disappointed and angered by the votes cast by members (Lila) Ferrillo, (Tom) Kelly and (Richard) Burke,” Drayton-Rogers said in an e‑mail. “This is Oxford politics at its worst.”
Drayton-Rogers sent her comments via e‑mail because she is on vacation this week.
Drayton-Rogers said the Republicans on the Finance Board ignored the work of the bi-partisan committee formed to examine the roof issue.
“The (Board of Selectmen) appointed a bi-partisan committee to replace the roof and install solar panels at the Great Oak Middle School; we did not appoint a committee of three Republican BOF members to make a political decision on this safety and health matter,” she wrote in an e‑mail.
While Drayton-Rogers labeled the move politics, Finance Board Chairwoman Lila Ferrillo said her group was simply “doing its job.”
Ferrillo said the board’s duty to taxpayers is make sure any project is cost effective. The Finance Board had to look at the bigger financial picture, she said.
“The committee’s recommendation had no options,” Ferrillo said. “We would rather give the taxpayers a choice instead of ramming something down their throats. ‘All or nothing’ is not a choice.”
According to an audio recording of Monday’s meeting, the Finance Board members acknowledged the roof needs to be replaced.
Burke felt the project was too expensive.
While reviewing the recommendation, Burke wondered how a leaky roof turned into a solar panel project.
The town is eligible for a $324,000 grant from the state’s Clean Energy Fund to purchase the solar panels — and $180,000 in reimbursements from the Department of Education for the roof replacement.
The town would have to come up with $667,000 for the project. Spending the money would require taxpayer approval at referendum.
Democrat Nancy Schmitt worried the grant money would disappear with the Finance Board’s rejection, according to the audio recording.
The next Board of Selectmen meeting is April 22.
