Former FinCom, SB member backs GMS project

By Guest

Dear Editor:

My name is Mark Porter and I am writing in support of the GMS project. I served on the town’s Finance Committee from 2009 to 2015 and on the Select Board from 2015 to 2021. I happily retired in 2021 to spend more time with my family. With my three kids still mostly in diapers, I freely admit that I have a significant personal interest in a new GMS. I hope that you come to understand, though, that I would support this project regardless.

As a member of the FinCom and later Select Board, I saw numerous projects hatched, researched, massaged and eventually approved through town meeting. Each project saw countless volunteer and staff hours poured into the final product, well before it made its appearance on town meeting floor. This project is no different, with the initial meetings happening in 2017, design funding approved at a prior town meeting, MSBA acceptance this summer and Special Town Meeting next week. The project website (galvinmsproject.com) shows monthly reports going to back to September 2023. There have been ample opportunities to learn about the project and provide feedback. For better or worse, once we received MSBA approval, the window for significant changes closed.

Reasonable people could argue that they do not want to bear the cost of this project. Reasonable people cannot, in good faith, argue that the project wasn’t thought through or researched well enough. This project is ready for its time in the spotlight, and to suggest otherwise diminishes the citizen volunteers and professional staff who have poured their time into it over the years.

Regarding the cost, there is no arguing that it’s a big number. Town leadership clearly recognizes this as the Finance Department has been working overtime to find ways to minimize the cost to the taxpayers. They are figuratively reaching into every couch cushion looking for spare change to ease the burden, but ask anyone who has built a home or addition in the last few years. Construction is expensive.

Waiting is expensive too. As others have stated, failing to approve this project sends us to the back of the line with the MSBA ($72M). School construction costs since the project was conceived have more than doubled. Where will they be when and if the project gets a second chance?

There are other costs to waiting. Some sources of state revenue we receive are on a per-student basis. That revenue is variable. A vast majority of our school costs are fixed. If the condition of the building causes parents to move their children to private schools, revenue will go down more than costs will. That is expensive.

More qualified voices have weighed in on the academic benefits of a more modern school, but I also ask for your support for this project because the finances, while eye-popping, make sense in the short and long term. Good people have dedicated their time to ensuring that’s the case.

Sincerely,

Mark Porter

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