Officials Seek More Info on Greenhouse Project Costs

First Selectman Pat Llodra and the Legislative Council have pledged to keep tabs on construction of a greenhouse as part of the Newtown High School expansion project after officials learned that the latest cost estimates place it at more than $400,0000.

"I'm certain that there will be much conversation," Llodra said during the council's meeting on Wednesday.

The cost estimates were first discussed a day earlier by members of the until the matter was discussed further with elected officials.

Council members, in turn, asked to put the brakes on such expenditures until they could get a handle on why the costs were so high, saying that voters will question spending nearly half a million dollars on a greenhouse.

"This seems like it is a little excessive," council member George Ferguson said. "We are going to hear it from our constituents."

At this point, officials can question the cost of constructing a greenhouse, but they also need to be aware that having a greenhouse is part of the educational specifications for the high school expansion project, which were approved by the state Bureau of School Facilities, Llodra said. That means that in order for the town to receive state reimbursement for part of the project costs, the work needs to follow the educational specifications.

Llodra said she and Finance Director Bob Tait were already working to reduce the greenhouse construction costs, including exploring pre-fabrication routes.

"When the project first came to us it was in the neighborhood of $500,000," she said. "I'm pretty reluctant and I would say Bob is pretty reluctant to sign off on that."

School and building and site commission members have said there is enough money in one of the high school expansion project's contingency fund to pay for the greenhouse costs, but council members said they objected to using contingency money.

"That doesn't seem to quite fit into that," council member Mary Ann Jacob said.

Officials said they expect the greenhouse project to receive more scrutiny in the weeks ahead.

"The scrutiny is yet to come," council member Kevin Fitzgerald said.

In other matters, the council has prepared a memorandum of understanding that it expects to sign with the Bureau of School Facilities that will change the town's process for seeking approvals for major school projects.

In the past, officials were asked to approve bond expenditures prior to fully vetting project costs, which caused friction because some believed agreeing to bond the full amount would open the door to overspending. Town officials said they were under the impression the state Bureau of School Facilities needed the town to approve the full bond amount — even if it was more than necessary — in order to qualify for state reimbursement.

It turned out the town can send the project out to bid to get a better handle on the costs and bond amount without jeopardizing state reimbursement.

Llodra said she became aware that this option was available shortly after the controversy surrounding the bond amount for the Newtown Middle School.

At the time, some finance officials said the project costs — up to $4.3 million — appeared too high and they were unwilling to agree to bond that full amount until the project was put out to bid and they could verified the amount. But officials eventually agreed to approved the full bond amount because they believed the state bureau required it.

"Remember we rushed that process through," Llodra said. "As a matter of fact, we didn't have to go through all of those steps."

Officials said the memorandum of understanding will be valuable because it documents the process should the same issue arise again.