Selectmen Hear Progress Report on High School

The new Norwood High School project continues to come in under budget - news the Board of Selectmen happily heard at its meeting Tuesday night.

At this point in the project, cash flow to date is about $56.5 million with a projected budget of about $60 million, said Bryan Jarvis, assistant project manager for Compass Management. 

Workers now are working on the school complex's new football stadium and track by preparing turf and prepping the track for surfacing, Jarvis said. Moving equipment, furniture and other materials from the old building to the new school was completed two weeks ago.

"June was a busy month," Jarvis said. "Crews continued site work around the building."

In relation to the school update, selectmen also discussed an agenda item in which Judith Howard, chairman of the Norwood Historical Commission, requested the cupola on the top of the old clock tower be saved and placed at a public site.

Although many selectmen agreed the structure would be a nice feature in town, Theodore Callahan, chairman of the Norwood Permanent Building Construction Committee, said the cupola is made of four sections and is 35 to 40 feet in length. 

It must be determined what condition it's in, he said, adding that such preservations might be costly. There's the question of where it should go, for what use and even if it can be saved at this point in the school's project.

"I think this would have been great (to be brought up) six months ago," Selectman William Plasko said. "I worry about the schedule and the practicality of it."

Callahan and construction officials will meet at an unspecified date to see whether or not the cupola could be saved.

In other agenda items, selectmen approved a request for the Downtown Steering Committee to assist in getting downtown businesses to commit to allow use of a space for a community painting project. 

The board also accepted an annual gift — a $30,000 check for the Andrew and Ernest J. Boch Memorial Fund — to be used for whatever function in town is "worthy, but has no source of funding," Selectmen Helen Donohue said. 

The board is looking for letters and applications for the funding. Applications are due Aug. 18 and a decision of who gets funding will be made Aug. 23.