Annual Report of the Town of Salem, Connecticut 2010-2011

Rich Amato agrees with Ms. Orsini in that he agrees with what has been said and he wants more
information.
Ed Chmielewski wanted to thank the Building Committee for a great job. Unfortunately a lot of folks in
town can not pay their taxes or are having a very difficult time paying them. What I have heard tonight is
that the Board of Education has endorsed Plan B. Also, the Board of Selectmen have endorsed Plan B. I
want to thank the first and second committees for their hard work. Plan B has been approved, reviewed
through all these committees and boards. We need to trust in the officials that we elect to do what is right
for the town and its people. There are a lot of folks relocating. There are a lot of people being laid off.
There are a lot of homes that are vacant in town. We should consider ourselves fortunate if we can get
Plan B passed in these difficult economic times. “
Athena Sartori, did some calculating based on $5000 in taxes. It amounts to $410 increase a year or $34
a month on the 10 ½ million proposal. (Actual amount stated 1/13/2010 was $15 Million contingent upon
a 30% reimbursement from the State.)
Mike Seibert stated, “when he was on the 1994-1996 building committee, the plan B now was basically
the same as the plan they wanted back then. Not much has changed. If you do not pass plan B, you will
spend another year on another building committee paying another architect. We will be back here again
in January 2012, and the school will still be faulty. And we will not be able to move on. We need to fix the
building now.”
Steve Buck, stated, “As a Salem Resident and a Teacher at Salem School for many years, and currently
on the Board of Education, I wanted plan A and I supported plan A. Some of the folks in this room and I
put together a political action committee for plan A. But as Mike stated and as Dr. Leake stated, we need
to fix the building now as it currently exists. The building committee has responded to the most
immediate needs at this point in time. Some of the things in Plan A are not in Plan B. We will have to live
with that. We cannot afford plan A. We have to pass Plan B.”
Diane Woronik, a Salem resident, has served on the building committee with everyone else. “All Salem
has ever done to the school is add on. They have never renovated. I looked at the bathrooms and the
boiler room and was horrified. These things cannot be put off any longer. They need to be addressed now.
We feel that the Board of Education can take care of some of the minor problems at a later date, or they
can repair smaller things out of their own budget. So we worked hand in hand with the Board of
Education asking them if this was okay. We want to make sure we can afford the plan for the whole town.
I urge you all to vote for Plan B. “
A remote question was asked by outside viewers, “Do your plan figures account for redoing the
electrical for laptops and such, or not?” The answer was, “Yes”.
Bob Green described his time on the Board of Ed for the last 14 years. “Things have stayed the same.
No major work has been done. We still have the same windows and doors that need replacement.”
Another remote question was asked, “Will we be able to support the needs of blind students as well as
being able to plug in a smart board, as all the cords are currently tripping hazards which need to be
addressed?” “Yes”, was the answer. “The power to support it will be there, the same clean, surgeprotected
power will be there”.
TOWN OF SALEM 2011 ANNUAL REPORT Page 14