BRUNSWICK

In an effort to find common ground over what to do with the aging, ailing Brunswick Junior High and Coffin schools, the town council and school board met jointly Wednesday night for a nearly three-hour discussion.

Meeting at the Coffin School cafeteria, the school board unanimously voted to send an application to the Maine Department of Education requesting up to $1 million per school in loans for immediate repairs.

The town council then outlined debt service models for several options to address the aging schools. Options and tax rate impacts were examined over six different scenarios of repair, replacement or renovation.

According to school board member Rich Ellis, an option to repair both buildings and replace Coffin School within 10 years most closely resembles that which brought by the board to the town council.

However, Ellis said another option — to repair the junior high school, complete minor repairs to Coffin Shool and replace Coffin School within three years — would be more acceptable to the council. Town Council Chairwoman Sarah Brayman concurred.

Other options included:

• Repairing the junior high now and replacing Coffin now;

• Repairing Coffin now and replacing the junior high;

• Renovating the junior high school and repairing Coffin with the goal toward replacing Coffin in 10 years;

• Renovating Coffin and repairing the junior high with the goal toward replacing the junior high in 10 years.

Councilor Dan Harris was optimistic about some of the repair options, stating that, with proper care, the town may get more than 10 years out of the measure.

Councilor Kathy Wilson wasn’t so sure.

“I think that putting money into repairs — to think schools will last more than 10 years with a 10-year fix — is naïve, I think,” Wilson said. “We would be right exactly back in the same boat we’re in now. I just think that would be just about the most foolish thing we would be looking at.”

The town council was presented with a laundry list of repairs deemed necessary and in need of immediate attention. Questioned among the changes was $197,600 in playground improvements and $500,000 for track resurfacing at the high school.

Also at issue was the aging mobile units across from Coffin School.

School Superintendent Paul Perzanoski attempted to refocus the discussion back to Coffin School and the junior high, asking for the two groups to come up with one or two items that could be started more immediately.

“Certainly those portables up front come up as my priority — we almost lost them to fire but the fire department got here too fast,” Perzanoski said.

Discussion turned to creating a timeline for presenting the next proposal with June 2016 and November 2016 as suggested deadlines. While June was seen by some as being too soon to seek proper public input, Ellis countered that if the board is behind in their schedule, they could push it back to November whereas targeting November may bump their schedule into the next year.

The two bodies only agreed that the meeting and discussions had been productive and that more such engagements should be considered.

dmcintire@timesrecord.com