by Brian Keaney

With little debate on the merits, Town Meeting unanimously passed proposals to build a new Avery School and renovate Stone Park.  Several other items were dispensed of with little discussion.

The first two articles, which ratified contracts with several unions and cut the budget set at the Annual Town Meeting in May, both passed without any discussion.  The third article, dealing with special purpose stabilization funds, was split into two parts on the motion of Deputy Moderator Cherylann Sheehan.  The first deposited mitigation funds from Legacy Place into a mitigation payments stabilization fund, and the second established a new, major capital improvements fund.

School Building/ Rehabilitation Chairman Andy Lawlor then took to the podium for article four, and gave a pitch for the new Avery School.  He said he had already given the same presentation to many other groups in town. 

“If we don’t do something now, at some near point in the near future the School Committee will have to wrestle with where they can equitably and adequately educate a quarter of the town’s schoolchildren,” Lawlor said.  “So it’s not scare tactics, in my view, to suggest that if we don’t act now and provide the School Committee with an excellent solution to where we can educate a quarter of the town’s school kids, that they will be left with nothing but poor choices to make in the midst of a crisis.”

Margot Pyle, the former chairman of District One, then spoke saying Lawlor’s presentation “proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that” a new school was needed.  District Five’s John Gillis also spoke, and said that while a new school was needed that the Town could not afford it.

District One’s Jack Delaney then reminded the Town Meeting that they voted to support a senior center, but it failed at the ballot box when voters wouldn’t approve the debt exclusion.

 “I think the important thing for this group is to indicate, I hope, by the strong support of this group, that we are telling our constituents that this is an important moment for the town,” Delaney said.  “This is an important vote for the future of Dedham.  Never are you going to get such a good deal as you got right now.  I hope this is voted by a substantial majority tonight.”

When the vote came on the $23 million proposal not a single nay was heard. 

High School principal Jake Santamaria and School Committee member Tom Ryan then proposed that while the Avery School was being built that it would make sense to also repair and renovate the deteriorating Stone Park. 

Ryan told the Town Meeting that the $3.1 million being asked for “is a lot of money, especially when it is your tax dollar,” but “investing in education is always a good decision.”  He also called it a “cost effective solution,” saying one turf field was the equivalent of four sod fields. 

Doug Grier, a Town Meeting member and vice president of Pop Warner, said that the current facilities were “substandard,” but a new complex will “be beautiful.  The whole town is going to see it and have pride.”  He added that a parent from a visiting Pop Warner team once laughed when they saw the condition of Stone Park.

Precinct Six Representative Dan Hart, who is also an employee at Harvard University, said colleges are looking for well rounded students.  Part of what they look at is athletics, he said.

Ladd Thorne of District One then worried that seniors who were upset about the defeat of the Senior Center last year would vote against the school projects in retaliation.  

“I would just like to implore all of you," Thorne said, “this night and the vote in January is for the kids.  It would be terrible if the disappointment the seniors feel would color the way they vote for the kids who deserve their day in the sun, their beautiful new facility."

A question then arose as to whether the article was so specific that it excluded several of the improvements being proposed, including new bleachers and restroom facilities.  Several Town Fathers consulted at the front of the auditorium, and Selectman Jim MacDonald then proposed putting a third question on the ballot.  It would not change the dollar value, he said, but would make explicit what was being built.

Susan Fay, a representative from District Six, said adding an additional question would confuse voters.  She said only two questions should appear, even if they were slightly more vague.  Bob Fish from District Three and Marie-Louise Kehoe from District One both made suggestions to amend the article, and another consultation was had at the front of the room.

When the huddle broke, Santamaria, who is also a representative from District Four, then proposed an amendment to make explicit what was being voted on.  His amendment passed with only few dissenting votes, including that of District Six’s Archie Divirgilio.  Divirgilio had argued that when the Avery School was just voted on that not every component was listed in the article.

The amended article then passed unanimously, with a new field and track, press box, a scoreboard, restrooms, bleachers, and conduit wiring for lights all voted on by name.

Several other items were quickly dealt with, with either a quick explanation or no discussion at all.  These included a supplemental appropriation to improve the town’s sewers, and one to rescind unneeded borrowing authority for the Middle School.  Town Meeting also approved a minor change to the Town’s Charter regarding the signing of payment warrants.

The only article to fail was Article Eleven, which was no longer needed after the General Court finally passed a bill and Governor Deval Patrick signed it into law.  The law combines the position of Treasurer and Collector.  Robin Reyes has been performing both jobs while the bill awaited action on Beacon Hill, and will continue in the new, combined position.