Dozens of Cape Elizabeth residents at a public hearing Monday denounced the Town Council chairman’s late-in-the-game $42 million bond proposal to address building issues at town schools.

Some 465 residents, meanwhile, signed a letter that was sent to the council and school board ahead of the public hearing in opposition to the $42 million proposal for repairs at safety upgrades at the schools. They said in the letter that they support the school board’s proposed $89.9 million bond for a new middle school and renovations and additions at the elementary school to address the overcrowded and aging buildings, as well as renovations at the high school.

Another letter sent to the council on behalf of “several residents” says that sending the $42 million proposal to the ballot could be illegal.

The Town Council will vote Aug. 12 on whether to put one, both or neither of the bond proposals on the November ballot.

Council Chairman Tim Reiniger’s $42 million proposal muddled the process of sending a solution to the ballot when he proposed it at the council’s July 8 meeting. He requested his bond be added to the meeting agenda on the morning of July 1 ahead of the school board vote that night on the $89.9 million project. The board unanimously approved the project, a compromise plan that resulted from two years of work by the School Building Advisory Committee. After the council voted 4-3 to send Reiniger’s plan to a public hearing on July 9, the school board at a special meeting July 18 voted 6-0 not to support it. In a message to the community on July 23, Reiniger said his proposal was a contingency plan and that it was not intended to undermine the school board’s proposal.

“The board was not consulted on (Reiniger’s) bond proposal,” school board Chair Elizabeth Scifres said at Monday’s public hearing. “The school board has not seen any presentation, there has been no joint workshop as was held for the ($89.9 million) middle ground designs. There were grave concerns about the lack of transparent public processes, disregard of SBAC work and data, absence of expert design advice, nonexistence of vetting and price verification and no actual project tethered to that number.”

The school board’s opposition and the shortcomings Scifres cited could doom the $42 million bond even if voters were to approve it, according to the town’s bond counsel James Saffian.

“When you issue bonds you’re going to need certain expectations to comply with the requirements of state law and the tax code,” Saffian told the council Monday. “So, in the event the question is submitted to voters, and is approved, and the school board’s position is they are not going to pursue that project, we would not be able to issue the approving bond counsel opinion necessary to actually issue the bonds.”

While the council has authority over the amount of a school bond and whether to put it on the ballot, only the school board can decide how and if a school bond order is spent.

Cape Elizabeth resident and attorney Gerald Petruccelli sent a letter on behalf of “several Cape Elizabeth citizens” to the Town Council and board on July 25. He highlighted their concerns at Monday’s public hearing.

“Procedures have to be tailored to the distribution of authority that is in the (town) charter,” Petruccelli said. “If the kinds of gimmicks that are being proposed here are just allowed to be tossed onto the ballot to confuse voters, to make it difficult to get a plain up and down vote on what the school board asked for, it’s ballot tampering.”

Residents echoed many of the same arguments against the $42 million proposal at Monday’s meeting, as did a letter to the Town Council and school board signed by 465 residents. They also said the $42 million is financially irresponsible because the town would have to address its aging schools again in the near future and that the repairs and security upgrades don’t address educational needs.

While the majority of residents at the hearing spoke in favor of the $89.9 million proposal, others spoke in favor of either the $42 million or having both on the ballot. They argued the $89.9 million proposal may not pass at referendum, leaving them with no contingency plan, and $42 million is more affordable, especially to seniors on fixed incomes.

Others expressed interest in a previous option considered by the School Building Advisory Committee dubbed “Option B.”

Option B calls for additions and renovations at both the middle and elementary schools at the price of $77.9 million. The SBAC voted 5-4 in favor a $110 million project which included a new middle school. With the other four in favor of Option B, the school board requested a compromise between the two projects, resulting in the $89.9 million “middle ground” proposal.

Some councilors at Monday’s meeting were interested in resurrecting the $77.9 million option and sending it to a public hearing. However, as it was after 10 p.m., at least five councilors needed to vote in favor of taking up a new item. That vote failed with just four councilors – Reiniger, Tim Thompson, Stephanie Anderson and Susan Gillis – in favor.