By Rick Wright

Staff Writer

South Portland is talking about hiring a marketing company to help guide how information about a new high school renovation plan is given to voters. 

Representatives of the South Portland school system tried in 2007 to sell the idea of upgrading the high school to city residents, but voters defeated the $56 million plan by a 3- to-1 margin. 

The department’s Secondary Schools Facilities Committee does not want to repeat that mistake.

“I think we need professional advice,” said committee member Ross Little. “I wouldn’t trust it to us.”

Little  is also a member of the Community Action Committee, an independent group of citizens trying to improve the condition of the high school.

Committee member and city councilor Tom Blake was hesitant about the idea. 

“It could backfire on us. Many voters are going to say, ‘What? I told you the last time. Now, you’re trying to brainwash me,’” Blake said. 

 “We need a professional opinion in here to tell us where to go, how to do it and what resonates,” Little said.

Steve Bailey, chairman of the Secondary Schools Facilities Committee, said he hopes to put a new proposal before voters in June. Bailey is also the assistant superintendent of schools in South Portland.

The subcommittee will be headed by School Superintendent Suzanne Godin. It will include Blake, Little, Secondary School Facilities Committee members Gene Swiger and Ellen Benson, and Community Action Committee member Susan Adams.

The subcommittee’s charge is to identify how a marketing firm could help and how much services would cost. The most important services, according to a survey administered to committee members last month, are message development, community outreach and media support.

A marketing firm provided pro bono work to the district in the mid-1990s when school officials wanted a new high school auditorium, Bailey said. The firm’s services included helping guide the distribution of information to voters, he said.

Bailey said the community “can do a good part of the work” to spread information to voters. The use of volunteers to spread the message would help keep the cost of hiring a marketing firm low. 

Bailey said the subcommittee will not know how much it will cost to hire a firm until they decide exactly which services are needed. The cost will be “well under” $10,000, he said.

Bailey said he expected the subcommittee to finish its work by Jan. 28.

The Secondary School Facilities Committee will hold a joint meeting Jan. 28 with the Board of Education and City Council to discuss maximum cost for the renovation.

Dan Robbins of Harriman Architects & Engineers made a presentation to the committee last month that estimates a $44 million price tag for the project. The new plan removed more than 29,000 square feet from the plan that was rejected by voters in 2007.

Although Harriman’s price was $12 million less than the proposal defeated in 2007, the committee still wants to lower the cost before taking the issue to voters, Bailey said.

“We definitely would like something that starts with a 3, something in the high 30s,” Bailey said. “A lower number is important but we don’t want to be penny wise and dollar foolish.”

Rick Wright can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 237, or news@inthesentry.com.