North School costs may near $200K
Published on April 1st, 1998
The town is currently under duress in its attempt to financially rectify what the School Committee has deemed be School Department shortcomings. It is likely that the Finance & Advisory Board and the voting population will support an increase in the School Department budget and that many of those needs will be met.
What is almost definite, though, is the fact that the town will pick up the tab for the North School oil leak; a tab which could cost upwards of $200,000, according to Town Administra-tor Jeffrey Nutting.
"I (told the Selectmen) that it could cost anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000," Nutting said. "Right now, we've spent about $40,000 and we're still waiting for word on how much we will be proposed at Special Town Meeting in May for a new (tank)."
The cleanup of the North School site is an ongoing process which has been conducted by Rizzo Associates, a consulting firm hired by the town.
Raymond Johnson of Rizzo Associates explained that much of the work remains to be done. In the past three weeks, several borings have been done on school property and in the surrounding area to estimate the level of contamination. Also, ground soil has been pulled out of the ground, filtered and fed into the drainage system.
"Generally, what's been happening out there is short term work on saving the soil," Johnson said. "The, we'll really have to do a sort of maintenance effort."
The major work will take place in mid-April when the tank, which is estimated to be 60 years old, will be excavated and the soil surrounding it will be replaced.
This, Nutting said, is where the major costs may be realized. The price tag may rise significantly if it is found necessary to remove a handicap ramp in the excavation process and replace it after.
"We're hoping not," he explained. "That's one of the things we've been looking at.
Nutting said that the cost of the project would likely come from the town's Stabilization fund since, according to Town Counsel William Solomon, it is unlikely that insurance would cover the cleanup.
"The only way I can see to pay for this is to go into the Stabilization Fund," he said. "We don't like to do that and it's going to take a big bite out of it, but it appears that we'll have to.
According to Nutting, the town has begun to take a proactive stance in terms of capital improvement planning due to this episode.
"(The project cost) continues, obviously, to build on a daily basis," he said. "We can't afford to have this happen again."
He said that plans are under way to replace the Town Hall's underground oil storage tank.
"In response to our recent problem, we've started discussing the replacement of the Town Hall fuel tank since we have no record of how old it is," Nutting said. "That's the only underground storage tank that the town owns.
"The School Department, on the other hand, is still in possession of several."
Every town school, in fact, has an underground fuel storage tank which range in ages of up to 50 years. According to School Department Special Services Director Frank Angelosanto, the North School's was the oldest of the group.
Acting School Superintendent Robert Barbarisi said that the School Department has yet to implement a capital improvement project which would deal with the replacement of these tanks.
"I expect that that will be coming up soon," Barbarisi said. "The early discussion has been that they would be pulling up the old tanks and replacing them when the construction (of the new elementary schools) is completed."
Johnson said that most, if not all, of the work at the North School site would be completed when April vacation ends on April 26.
He also said that, although most of the oil was contained to school grounds, traces of oil were found in the soil of an adjoining nearby apartment complex and home.
In terms of prevention, Barbarisi said, "In my opinion, I don't think there was anything that could have kept it from happening. The problem with test in (the oil tank for faults) is that you have to put air pressure in the tank to test it.
"In the old tanks, that could rupture it."
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