By Rick Wright

Staff Writer

The South Portland City Council decided Monday it will do an independent review of the high school renovation plan at the encouragement of the secondary schools facilities committee.

“I like (Ralph Baxter Jr.’s) idea for a review,” said Councilor Jim Hughes. “We didn’t do well the last time. It got slammed at the polls. I don’t want us to lose again.”

Baxter, who also is vice-chairman of the board of education, made the offer after the committee delivered a report to the council. The report included an update on the plan and asked the council to put a $44.1 million bond issue on the November ballot to pay for it.

The total cost of the renovation will be $47.3 million. The school department has $3.2 million available in project funds to apply to the overall cost.

South Portland residents in 2007 defeated a $56 million referendum for a high school upgrade.

Steve Bailey, assistant superintendent of schools, currently serves as chairman of the facilities committee. He was also co-chairman of the committee in 2007.

Bailey said an independent review was not offered to the council in 2007.

“It didn’t come up. It didn’t seem to be an issue at that time,” Bailey said.

Mayor Tom Coward said the review would be done in time to get the bond issue on the November ballot if the council decided this fall would be a good time for the issue to go to referendum. 

Tuesday morning, Coward said he asked South Portland City Manager Jim Gailey to find a qualified engineering firm to do the review. 

Gailey will identify a candidate, “very, very soon, probably within days,” Coward said. Gailey will report back to the council, which will make the final decision, he said.

“We’re on the verge of picking between two or three. We need to get somebody who’s qualified to do this,” Coward said.

Coward said he’s looking for a qualified firm that can objectively evaluate all aspects of the renovation plan, especially the size and cost of the project. 

Coward said the review will take a few weeks and will be followed by one or two public workshops to discuss the results of the review.

“We want them to look at what’s already been done and tell us if this plan will address our needs. In order to set people’s minds at rest, we need to have a second opinion,” he said.

The city will pay for the cost of the review, which Coward estimated to be several thousand dollars. Coward said the city has money in its budget to pay for the review.

The idea of an independent review was supported by councilors and by many residents at Monday’s meeting.

One of those residents on hand was John Howard. 

“I think it’s very important that a third party independent review be done,” Howard said.

Councilor Tom Blake, a member of the facilities committee, said, “I agree that we need to move forward post haste. Let’s go with that independent review yesterday. Let’s get this done. We can do this in a month.”

Councilor Rosemarie De Angelis supported the review but she opposed the renovation plan because of the $47.3 million price tag.

“This number blows the top of my head off. I cannot go to voters and say this is a great project and you need to get behind it,” De Angelis said. 

Baxter implored the council to support the renovation plan and put the bond issue on the November ballot instead of waiting until June 2011 or later.

“As we keep putting it off, the cost does increase. We have a crappy building and a great high school. We have great teachers. We have a great staff. We just need some help with the building,” Baxter said.

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