posted November 3, 2007
Dear Mayor and Council Members,
I regret I was unable to attend the special meeting on Oct. 25 at which plans for the new school were discussed. Had I any idea that the subject of providing additional town funds would come up, I would have done anything possible to be there to oppose it.
The Town has previously committed $7.7 million to the construction of the school. In my view, that is already $7.7 million too much - it is a county school and, like every other county school, it should have been funded 100% by the county. To compound this mistake by giving the Hamilton County Department of Education an additional $317,000 would be an inexcusable diversion of Town taxpayer money away from important needs such as paving roads, building and repairing sidewalks, maintaining facilities and so on.
I know that the local option sales tax money, the source of the $317,000, is earmarked toward the school. With that in mind, it is obvious that the correct and proper use of this money is to help pay down the remaining bond debt that was incurred to raise the $7.7 million already committed. This will reduce the amount that property taxes paid into the Town's general fund must subsidize the bonded indebtedness.
If you as our representatives wish to put the $317,000 in sales tax money toward a specific project or program at the new school, this would be appropriate only if and when a formal memorandum of understanding is signed with the HCDE stating that the money put to that purpose counts as part of the $7.7 million being provided by the Town for the school, and not in addition to it.
If you wish to increase the amount paid toward the school beyond the $7.7 million already agreed to, then it would only be fair to hold another referendum to allow the citizens to express their preference. I have a strong feeling that this referendum would not yield the same result as the one that was rushed through, with opposition given just scant weeks to organize before the vote, in May of 2004. But rather than holding another referendum, I ask you to simply carry out the wishes of the citizens who elected you and get the Town out of debt as soon as possible.
While I'm on the subject of the new school, I note with dismay that Commissioner Casavant is touting the idea of cutting a new access road to the school through Prentice Cooper State Forest. This would be a singularly bad idea in any case, but it is especially inappropriate for Signal Mountain in the wake of the destruction of hiking trails built by Sam Powell, Boy Scouts, and other volunteers in Shackleford Ridge Park; not to mention the ongoing controversy regarding overdevelopment on our mountain top.
It is worth noting that there would have been no need to propose this road had the high school construction taken place on the original site that was "sold" to the public as part of the propaganda campaign in advance of the referendum. The chosen, inferior site was the result of a "bait and switch" pulled by Chip Baker and the School Board (and endorsed by the Commissioner) which was pushed through in December of 2005 while most folks, preparing for the holidays, were blissfully unaware of the political games being played.
Ironically, one of the reasons that Dr. Casavant gave for selecting the site in the park was that it would be cheaper to build the school there. He conveniently neglected the fact that it might be necessary to build a second road to the site, thus eating up the "savings." Therefore, the problem of access to the school that he hopes to remedy with his road proposal is one of his own making. In any event, I hope you will all join me in strongly opposing the bulldozing of even a small part of our state forest land for this project.
All of you assumed office last year either during, or just after, the recall process that (one way or another) resulted in all five of the previous Council Members leaving office. The recall effort was an outgrowth of a deep divide within our community that, in large measure, stemmed from the proposal to use Town funds to build a county school. While opposition to that proposal was substantial (but slightly less than a majority) at the time, the divide grew even deeper as more and more citizens realized that the high school project was being used as a vehicle to advance the cause of rapid development in Signal Mountain.
You have wisely taken steps to try to heal the rift in our community by involving citizens in the land use planning process and other important activities. Please believe me when I tell you that approving additional funds beyond the $7.7 million already committed to the school, and/or supporting the destruction of state forest lands for a school access road, will rip the stitches from the still-healing wounds and undo much of the good you have accomplished in the last year.
As always, I thank each of you for your volunteer service as I encourage you to make these decisions wisely and fairly on behalf of all the citizens of our Town.
Best regards,
Joe Dumas
joe@joedumas.com
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