Volume 19, Number 36
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
www.TownTimes.com
Friday, Januar y 16, 2015
District to study ‘phased implementation’ of building plan By Mark Dionne
either underutilized buildings or closing and reconfiguring schools. According to BOE member The school utilization report, written by architec- Bob Fulton, the board’s Utilitural planning firm Drummey zation Committee has focused Rosane Anderson Inc. and on a configuration of two turned into the district in K-5 schools, one 6-8 middle December, presented four school, and one high school, options to the Board of Edu- closing two of the current six cation and left the board plan- buildings. This option, modeled as C3 ning for the next steps to deal with declining enrollment in in the DRA report, allows for two benefits that have been District 13. Declining enrollment has brought up at multiple meetpresented Durham and Mid- ings and workshops. The two elementary schools dlefield with the prospect of Town Times
maintains both the Contemporary and the Integrated Day programs and houses them in separate buildings at the elementary level. The C3 option also reduces the number of times a student has to transition to a new school. “That’s the outline that we’ve settled on,” Fulton, speaking for the Utilization Committee and not the full BOE, told the Town Times. No plan has been officially Middlefield officials are considering several options selected, but the Utilization around the leasing of the cell tower located on Jackson Hill Road behind Town Hall. The tower is used by three See BOE / Page 5 communications companies and the town. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
Middlefield examines cell tower deals
JE SUIS CHARLIE
By Mark Dionne Town Times
In the wake of the terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, people gathered on the Durham town green Jan. 10 to show sympathy for the victims and support for freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Demonstrators held signs reading “Je suis Charlie” – I am Charlie – a slogan of support adopted immediately after the attack, and markers and pens, tools of the cartooning trade. The gathering included several local artists as well as French nationals. | Clay Howe / Submitted
Officials in Middlefield expect to have a deal in place soon for the lease of a cell tower located on Jackson Hill Road behind the Middlefield Town Hall. At the Jan. 5 Middlefield Board of Selectmen’s meeting, First Selectman Jon Brayshaw said he wanted to get to “the final, final, final, final, final, final agreement” and expected it to impact the fiscal year 2015-2016 town budget. At the regular Jan. 8 Middlefield Board of Finance meeting, Chair Robert Yamartino agreed. “We’ve got to cap this prior to going into budget season,” he said. The BOF agreed to hold a special board meeting on Jan. 22 to discuss various proposals, with the expectation that they would make a specific
recommendation, and a public hearing in February. The deals are complicated not just by the technology involved and its potential changes but by the ownership. The town does not own the cell tower, but the land under it and the lease on it. That lease runs out in 10 years. Several town off icials made pains to insist that none of the deals would sell the land or the tower. The potential deals are to sell and extend the lease. The deals, however, are not short term. Those referred to at the Jan. 8 BOF meeting ranged from 30 to 50 years. “You guys have a tough decision,” said Unison’s Chuck Bruttomesso, whose company deals with cell tower leasing and presented a proSee Cell / Page 10