MONTAGUE — Town Meeting members authorized $1.75 million to pay for a feasibility study and schematic design centering on Sheffield and Hillcrest elementary schools.
The 59-17 vote, which met the required two-thirds majority, was taken during Wednesday night’s Special Town Meeting. Of Montague’s 120 Town Meeting members, 85 attended and passed nine articles, including funding for the feasibility study, which would be paid for using $500,000 from capital stabilization and up to $1.25 million through borrowing. The project has been accepted into the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), which could reimburse eligible project costs up to 76%.
Feasibility study
The study would broadly assess the future of the two schools. The town has expressed interest to the MSBA in expanding and renovating Sheffield Elementary School, which serves students in second through fifth grades. An expansion would allow students from Hillcrest Elementary School, which serves pupils in preschool through first grade, to be brought under one roof. The three priorities for consolidating the two elementary schools include alleviating classroom overcrowding, installing modern school building features and adding to the Sheffield building to allow for a greater range of educational programs.
The smaller of the two schools, Hillcrest, was first built in the 1950s, and is a single-story, L-shaped building. The main Sheffield Elementary building was rebuilt in 1988 after a fire destroyed the building, but spared the attached auditorium and gymnasium. An administrative building was constructed in 1925.
Speaking to Town Meeting members about the article was Capital Improvements Committee Chair Greg Garrison, and Sheffield and Hillcrest Elementary School Building Committee Chair Steve Ellis. The building committee oversees the project, and has been meeting since July. Both spoke of the work done to study the conditions of the two schools, along with the educational and economical benefit that a feasibility study would bring.
“[The feasibility study] will allow us to compare the continued investment in the existing buildings with renovations, additions or new construction,” Garrison said. “It will examine educational needs alongside building conditions and costs so that we can make an informed decision about the best use of public money.”
Ellis said that in looking at options for designs, there could be analyses into renovation or expansion of the schools, or building a new school. These can be investigated through the feasibility phase that includes support from an owner’s project manager and an architect.
Montague resident and non-Town Meeting member Susan Slocum asked about what would be done if the study ends up costing more than $1.75 million; if the 76% reimbursement from the MSBA is in writing; comparable reimbursement rates for other local school projects; and what would happen to Sheffield and Hillcrest if a recommendation is made to construct a new school altogether.
Ellis explained the study cost is a high estimate based on research by Town Administrator Walter Ramsey and conversations with the MSBA. The reimbursement rate will be in writing once a study agreement with the MSBA is reviewed by town counsel and signed, and while not familiar with other communities’ rates, Ellis gave reimbursement percentages ranging from 31% to 80% based on demographic and construction factors.
As for what happens if the study recommends leaving one or both elementary school buildings behind, development of the vacant building, or buildings, could be carried out by the town or a private developer, which would entail a request for proposals.
Town Meeting member Eileen Mariani spoke in support of the article, but said the price tag for the study came as a shock. She pointed to her history as an educator, a former School Committee member for the Gill-Montague Regional School District and a member of the building committee to create Sheffield Elementary. After researching the proposal and knowing the care the officials behind the proposal bring to the town, she said, “I would really encourage everyone to bite the bullet and go, ‘OK.'”
Finance Committee Vice Chair Leigh Rae and member Stuart Mieher identified themselves as having voted not to recommend the article, after an attendee requested an explanation for the 5-2 recommendation from the committee.
Rae cited the cost and her “reservations” over the impact of the proposal on top of two other capital projects (the new library and the new Franklin County Technical School building) impacting residents’ taxes. Following the failed regionalization vote earlier this month, she hopes the building committee takes into account the unused space at the schools to make sure there’s an “economic solution.”
Mieher also cited concern over the price, along with a “lack of specificity” on the proposal. However, since the Finance Committee’s vote, he’s been reassured about the planning, and while the price tag is difficult, he said, “I think it’s a pretty complicated set of issues that the schools face, and having professional help, I think, would be pretty important.”
In response to Mieher’s comment about the specificity of information available to the Finance Committee, Ellis said the building committee was just getting started, but he stated that Town Meeting members can count on the committee to “provide very clear, specific information as it becomes available moving forward.”
Senior tax work-off program
Article 8, which sought to adopt Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 59, Section 5K, authorizes the Selectboard to establish a senior tax work-off program that will allow homeowners over the age of 60 to volunteer in municipal departments in exchange for reduced property tax bills.
The program will begin at the start of the 2028 fiscal year, and according to Council on Aging Director Roberta Potter, the Gill-Montague Senior Center and the Montague Public Libraries will offer volunteer positions to pilot the program. In the first year, there will be up to 10 participants who can each have their tax bills reduced by an estimated $1,500.
As Potter explained, some of the logistics are still being worked out. Ramsey clarified that the point of the vote was to authorize adoption of the state law, and the town can then develop a policy for the program. He urged people to pay attention to Selectboard meetings in November and December, when the proposal is expected to be reviewed.
Speaking in support of the program was Rachel Stoler, who detailed the benefit to the town as well as to participating seniors.
“Benefits to older adults [include] reducing isolation, increasing civic engagement, and of course, the financial assistance, and just the opportunity for people to be interacting with older adults that they might not otherwise interact with,” Stoler said.
Other articles
The other seven articles that passed were as follows:
- Paying $1,643 in prior year bills.
- Resolving a fiscal year 2026 Turners Falls Municipal Airport operating deficit using $38,550 from free cash, and providing a supplemental $15,000 from free cash to support the fiscal year 2027 airport operating budget.
- Funding structural grant deficits using $61,502 from free cash.
- Allocating money for cemetery maintenance and a cemetery sexton stipend using $12,032 from the sale of Highland Cemetery Lot’s account.
- Paying for non-capital equipment requests for the Police Department and the Parks & Recreation Department using $16,300 from free cash.
- Authorizing the Selectboard to conduct a required competitive procurement process and execute a new lease agreement of up to 30 years for the former Center Street School building at 34 Central St., which Community Action Pioneer Valley looks to maintain the lease on for its Early Head Start program.
