FREEPORT

Not a chair was left vacant at a public hearing Tuesday as residents discussed the costs or benefits of leaving Regional School Unit 5. Voters will decide the issue at the polls Dec. 17.

Hundreds attended Tuesday’s hearing. “We have quite a crowd tonight,” Town Council Chairman Jim Hendricks joked. “I wonder why?”

The reason is well known: Freeport and the two other RSU 5 towns — Pownal and Durham — have been battling over budgets and renovations to Freeport High School almost since the district was formed in 2009.

A simple majority vote in favor of the Dec. 17 townwide referendum would launch step five of a 22-step process that was initiated with a petition to withdraw organized by Moving Freeport Forward, a citizens group which organizers said has approximately 20 members.

Tuesday’s hearing opened with an explanation of the withdrawal process, followed by a presentation from John Egan, a Moving Freeport Forward member.

Egan said tension has grown among the towns since consolidation, primarilyr disagreements about the school budget.

Though every budget has passed since consolidation, Freeport has voted “Yes” on all budgets, while Pownal has voted “No” every time and Durham has voted “Yes” only once.
Egan argued that Freeport knows how to operate as a standalone school district — and did so before RSU 5 was formed.

“We’re not going into the dark here folks,” he said, noting that the group’s bywords are “regain local control.”

Eric Horne, Freeport resident and Moving Freeport Forward member, said, “It’s not that Durham and Pownal don’t value education, that’s ridiculous.”

“What spoke to me was this chart,” Horne said, holding up a poster illustrating budget votes across the towns. “What’s happening in these towns is that the state is in the process of withdrawing funding, and they’re fighting a headwind of tax increases. That’s why they’re voting against the budgets.”

At the heart of the debate is the fate of a bond for much-needed renovations to Freeport High School, which narrowly passed on a second vote when repairs to the athletic facilities were shifted to a seperate bond and defeated.

Catherine Breer of Freeport, and a member of the Renovations Board, said no significant renovations have been made to the school since it was built in 1961, and that that the current condition of the athletic fields is “unplayable and unsafe.”

“The piece that is really critical is that kids are going to school in the industrial arts building,” Breer said. “It (the building) was never intended for that purpose. It’s not insulated, the roof leaks and the kids are going to school with their jackets on.”

Though the renovation bond passed, the funds are authorized for use by RSU 5. So, if Freeport withdraws from the unit, other means of funding will have to be sought for renovations.

“The unfortunate effect is that we’re in a holding pattern at the moment,” RSU 5 Superintendent Shannon Welsh said Tuesdsay. “We can’t spend the bond and we can’t make significant investments in the buildings until the withdrawal question is decided.”

Other speakers from across the three towns expressed concern for students if the district separated, and felt that unification was getting stronger with time.

“This is not a time to go it alone,” said Lani Graham, of Freeport.” That is an idea and an approach of the past. The wave of the future is to work together, collaboratively and creatively, and in the most cost-effective way possible.”

RSU 5 voters approved a $14.6 million bond Nov. 5 to renovate at Freeport High School but rejected a $1.7 million bond to fund a new turf field and running track at the school.
The winning bond passed by a narrow vote of 2,324 to 2,252. It was the second try at approval since the initial proposal — a $16.9 million plan contained within an annual budget — was defeated in June.

The bond voted Nov. 5 won in Freeport, 1,639 to 1,029, but was rejected by voters in Durham 828 to 467 and in Pownal, 395 to 218. The margins in Durham and Pownal narrowed from the vote in June.

The track-and-field bond was rejected on Nov. 5 by 2,793 to 1,776, passing only in Freeport — and only by 18 votes.

Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 17 in the Town Hall council chambers, 30 Main St.

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