At the Nov. 12 regular meeting of the Haddonfield Public Schools Board of Education, the board scheduled a new, special meeting for Thursday, Nov. 19 to present and vote on the finalized scope of the proposed bond referendum that has been discussed by the board over the last several months.
Superintendent Richard Perry acknowledged that scheduling the date only a week in advance was late notice, but noted that the district was running up against deadlines, and if there were to be a public vote on the referendum in March, then the board had to proceed with having a public hearing finalizing the referendum sooner rather than later.
“If we don’t do it next week (Nov. 19) and we wait until Dec. 12 (the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting) it would jeopardize some of the timelines for going out for March,” Perry said.
District business administrator John Oberg agreed with Perry, and said he was under the belief that if the board did not hold the hearing on Nov. 19, it would not make the deadline for holding a public vote in March.
Oberg said the district had already technically passed one deadline for holding the vote in March, but Oberg said in having talked to officials from the state Department of Education, there was still a “good probability” that if the board voted on Nov. 19 and sent off required materials, the public could still vote on the referendum in March.
“There’s a good probability that we’d be able to make it (March) anyway,” Oberg said.
Board President Glenn Moramarco said he wanted to be clear and note that any presentation and vote by the board on Nov. 19 would finalize the scope of what would be included in the referendum, but not necessarily include figures regarding exact dollars.
“There are still some estimates that are being done, but it’s an going to include or not include security,” Moramarco said.
The district originally decided it needed to go out for a bond referendum because of much-needed building repairs, HVAC updates, special systems upgrades and accessibility and code compliance issues.
Since then, the extent of what to include in the referendum has been the topic of hot debate among the board and the public.
At the board’s Oct. 1 meeting, the proposed bond referendum had a total estimated cost of $51.2 million, but since then, the board’s long range planning committee has been attempting to cut costs and remove less pertinent items based on feedback from the public and the board.
“We’ve been working hard to get the numbers down,” Perry said.
Oberg said the board must adopt three resolutions at the Nov. 19 meeting: one outlining the scope of the referendum, one allowing the board to notify the county clerk and borough clerk to set up the vote, and one allowing the district’s architect to start necessary paperwork regarding work that needs to be completed.
Perry said the Nov. 19 meeting would also most likely begin with an earlier start time of 6:15 p.m. as the meeting might run longer than normal.
On Nov. 16, the Sun received an email notice stating the date of Nov. 19 special meeting for the Bond Referendum Proposal is confirmed with a 6:15 p.m. start time. The meeting will take place at the HMHS Library and action maybe taken.
Check www.haddonfieldsun. com for the latest updates leading up to the meeting.
