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07/17/2018 12:00 AMAfter months of public and closed-door meetings with representatives of the proposed private school Our Lady of Mercy (OLM) Prep, on July 16 the Board of Selectmen (BOS) revealed rough details of a potential lease agreement for Island Avenue Elementary School. If residents were to approve the lease at an upcoming town meeting, the town would see an influx of revenue in the area of half a million dollars a year for three years.
OLM Prep has been looking at Island Avenue as a potential temporary home for the school since news broke that the home of current OLM, which is run by the Archdiocese of Hartford, on Neck Road closed at the end of this academic year. While the church chose to merge OLM with St. Mary School in Branford, some members of the OLM community chose to form OLM prep and seek a school site closer to Madison.
Selectmen and members of OLM Prep had been going over financial statements and things like liability to see if leasing Island was a viable option after the Madison Public School District formally turns the building over to the town in 2019.
On July 16, the BOS set a special town meeting for Monday, Aug 6 at 7 p.m. in the Island Avenue auditorium to take action on a potential lease agreement. The agreement is contingent upon the Board of Education (BOE) turning Island Avenue back over to the town, OLM prep meeting all insurance coverage requirements for use of the building, and the agreed lease being set as “triple net,” whereby all utilities, maintenance, and capital would be assumed by OLM Prep.
The lease, if signed, would stand for three years and the annual payment to the town would be $535,000. OLM Prep has expressed interest in possibly purchasing Island Avenue some time in the future and language is included in the town meeting motion that might make that possible.
“Of the lease payment total, $150,000 of each yearly payment may be applied toward any future agreed upon purchase price of the property,” the meeting call reads. “Nothing herein shall be deemed as an obligation on the part of the town to sell the property to OLM Prep or as a right of first refusal on OLM Prep’s part.”
The special meeting call was made after another two-hour executive session with OLM prep on July 16. First Selectman Tom Banisch said he understands the public might be frustrated by the use of executive session, but that more information and meetings will be open and available to the public from this point forward.
“Out of necessity we have had to maintain confidentiality and have these conversations in executive session,” he said. “We don’t feel its fair to the public to spring something on the public without giving them more information, so we are going to take advantage of our next meeting to try to do that as well as we can.”
Selectman Bruce Wilson said the public should also understand that while there are numbers and details in the town meeting call, conversations are still ongoing and things could change between now and August.
“This is a fluid conversation, so we have been talking about puts and takes on what this might actually look like and what is in front of the voters for action may not look exactly like this,” he said. “OLM Prep has agreed to provide more information and make that information public in advance of the town meeting and specifically we will be putting this on the agenda for extensive public discussion in our next BOS meeting. We will structure the meeting so there is ample opportunity for public input.”
While some details may still change, OLM Prep’s John Picard said he is pleased to see this conversation continue to move forward.
“We are excited about the vote and we are optimistic about Aug. 6,” he said. “We want this to go to the residents and have them understand that the town will collect about $1.5 million through this lease and still control the property and OLM will get to have its 65th year and beyond. I really believe it works for both of us—for the town and OLM.”
Questions, Comments, Concerns
The July 16 meeting was not well attended, but those residents who came, came with numerous questions. Gus Horvath told the board it needs to think long and hard about how all of the financial and technical information is presented to the public in the coming weeks.
“I think the public might be interested to know how you arrived at the lease number, so I would suggest you consider presenting that,” he said. “And what happens if there is a default? You might explain that to the public.”
Joan Walker commended the board on coming up for a plan for Island Avenue once it is turned over by the BOE and said she is pleased to see the building might continue as a school. However, she said the public needs many more details before decisions are made.
“I am concerned that the public doesn’t know enough about the lease deal to make an informed decision, so I am asking that the full lease be made public as soon as possible, especially prior to the town meeting so voters can be educated on what is being proposed,” she said. “I also ask that any financials that OLM prep has presented to the BOS be made public along with logic that shows how the price of the lease was determined. I am hoping OLM prep will give voters some information about their plans, some of the things that would be helpful would be the enrollment projections, mission statement, capital projections, and any capital improvement plans that you may have along with your long-term plans so what happens after the three years of this lease.”
Banisch said he understands the need to share more info with the public and this matter will be raised at the next BOS meeting on Monday, July 23.
“We have come up with numbers for a lease, but the fact of the matter is we are still at the point where no action is going to occur that the town doesn’t agree with,” he said. “It’s going to go to a town meeting and I think the comments just made are well taken. We need to have more public involvement going forward in understanding what the whole package is.”
Getting to this Point
Parents and families from OLM Prep first came before the BOS on April 9 to discuss the potential of leasing Island Avenue School. Closing Island is part of the BOE response to declining enrollment; as of now the plan is to close the school in June 2019.
OLM, located at 149 Neck Road in town, is the main Catholic K-8 school serving Madison and Guilford since 1954. Over the past few years, the school community has been left in a state of flux following an announcement that the school’s lease would be terminated and then a more recent announcement early this year telling parents that the school building would close at the end of this academic year and the school be combined with St. Mary’s School in Branford.
Following the news of the imminent closure, some OLM families banded together to begin looking for ways to separate the school from the local parishes to form an independent Catholic school, and find a permanent home, ideally still in Madison.
Thus far OLM Prep has indicated financial holdings of about $1.3 million and a strong fundraising history. The town, wanting to ensure the deal is profitable, is working with the assumption that the Island property, if developed, could yield a tax revenue of roughly $480,000 a year by conservative estimates.