Hingham voters will head to a special Town Meeting on Oct. 29 to decide on funding for two elementary school roof replacements, after the Select Board voted July 28 to set the date and open the meeting's warrant.
The board voted unanimously to hold the special Town Meeting at 7 p.m. at Hingham High School, adopting a schedule that Assistant Town Manager for Finance Katie Dugan said was designed to give the school building committee and the town's electric utility time to finish their internal reviews first.
"That will allow for the school building committee and HMLP [Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant] to complete their processes internally with ADCOM [Advisory Committee] and with select board," Dugan said, adding that the date also lets the town pair local debt exclusion questions with the Nov. 3 state election.
Select Board Chair Liz Klein said she was satisfied with the timeline after weeks of coordination among town departments.
Dugan told the board the meeting will bring forward warrant articles from the town's school building committee tied to projects accepted into the state's Accelerated Repair Program.
"There are three warrant articles that are being brought forward by the 2025 school building committee that they have voted for select board's consideration at their July 14th meeting," she said.
Two articles would fund roof replacements at Plymouth River and South elementary schools, while a third would expand the scope of previously authorized design funds to cover pre-construction work on a roof and HVAC project at Hingham High School.
Dugan noted the roof projects come with significant state help. "It does note that there is the 36.89% reimbursement that will be coming on eligible receipts from the MSBA," she said.
Superintendent Kathryn Roberts addressed the board on the roof projects and said both the South Elementary and high school roofs are nearing the end of their usable life despite years of repairs. "They're approaching 30 years old and are very much at the end of their useful life," Roberts said, adding that the Plymouth River School roof is even older, with sections original to the 1968 building.
The board voted to open the warrant and insert only the South Elementary roof article and the high school scope-change article Tuesday night, holding back the Plymouth River roof article and a separate article for the HMLP's capital improvement project until more financial details are settled. Board member Bill Ramsey said the board wanted firm answers before moving forward.
"We shouldn't move anything forward to the advisory committee until we have those questions resolved," Ramsey said.
That caution centered largely on HMLP's request. Laura Burns, Light Board chair, told the board the estimated cost of its transmission and substation project has fallen since the spring, but the utility's borrowing request will likely shrink well below the $70 million it had previously proposed. She said the light board is expected to take up a lower bonding figure at its own meeting next week, with a decision on final numbers expected by Aug. 11.
The Select Board plans to reopen the warrant at a later meeting to add the Plymouth River and HMLP articles once outstanding questions on financing and electric rate impacts are resolved, with enough time remaining before the Oct. 29 vote.