The Finance Committee voted to approve the following (see Report and watch NewTV video):
- Acceptance of an anonymous $10,000 donation to Newton City Council in memory of former Ward 6 Alderman George Mansfield. The Committee voted to approve 8-0.
- Acceptance of a $22,248 grant from MassEVIP for 6 EV Level 2 chargers. Five (5) will be installed in the DPW facility at Elliot Street and one (1) will be installed in the Directors’ parking lot at City Hall. MassEVIP grant plus $129,000 from Eversource will cover the full cost of the six (6) EV chargers. EV chargers will not be available for public use. The Committee voted to approve 8-0.
The Finance Committee held the following:
- Request to appropriate $925,000 from Free Cash for Newton Public Schools Curriculum Investments NPS has not had a formal curriculum review for 20 years. NPS Superintendent stated that NPS’s math and science curriculum does not meet State standards. Newton has been selected by the State to test a new MCAS assessment tool for Science, therefore, the Superintendent wants to focus on math curriculum improvements first. The Commitee voted to hold
NPS recently purchased a new English Language Arts curriculum that meets State standards (following the Science of Reading), that cost $2 million. NPS plans to spend $1 million of supplemental dollars annually on curriculum and training improvements. This request is to start that process.
NPS fell behind on STEM because “the school day is arranged in such a way that science is often an optional place where teachers put their instructional time.” Some NPS STEM curricula are outdated and no longer meet state standards. Engineering electives were cut from high schools in recent years. The superintendent would like to start optional dual enrollment with local colleges for high school students to provide more STEM opportunities.
NPS contracted with Boston Colleges’ technology research group to map what are the technologies that our schools are using to improve STEM education. This work “has been delayed by the work to rule actions.”
The Committee voted to hold the item 8-0.
- Request to appropriate $11,475,000 from Free Cash for Newton Public Schools and Municipal Infrastructure (8-0 )to fund the following:
- Newton North Pool – Air Handling Unit ($425,000)
- Replace Entire Roof System – Peirce Elementary ($1,200,000)
- Replace Entire Roof System – Mason Rice Elementary ($1,100,000)
- Repave Parking Area – Brown Middle School ($300,000)
- Replace Chiller – Newton South, Building H ($350,000)
- Repair Auditorium Ceiling, Playground Improvement and Toilet Room Installation – Williams Elementary ($325,000)
- Install PA Systems – Bigelow & Brown Middle Schools ($300,000)
- Toilet Room Upgrades – Day Middle, Mason Rice, Bowen, Memorial Spaulding, and Peirce Elementary Schools ($1,275,000)
- Paving, Road Improvements & Traffic Calming ($5,250,000)
- Police Headquarters – Repave Parking Lot & Fencing ($600,000)
- Fire Station 2- Heat Pumps for staff area HVAC ($350,000).
CFO stated the City has $27.9 million this year in Free Cash, about $15 million more than usual. If the item were approved, $12 million would be left in Free Cash for other uses over the next 6 months.
Questions were asked about NNHS pool’s air handling unit, breakdown between the paving road improvements and traffic calming, how the City determined the list of priorities, tracking the amount spent on these maintenance repairs, restroom accessibility upgrades, and traffic calming.
Some Councilors expressed approval about all the requests and others expressed concerns that the city is not investing enough capital in street calming initiatives.