Lincoln School Committee withdraws $650,000 building-study placeholder from March town warrant

LINCOLN — January 23, 2014 — Lincoln pulls $650,000 school building placeholder off the March town warrant. The School Committee voted, with one abstention, to withdraw the feasibility-study placeholder and instead seek a binding two-thirds vote at a special fall town meeting on whether to submit a new Statement of Interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a comprehensive project. Superintendent Becky McFaul said the joint planning meeting with the Finance Committee, Board of Selectmen and Capital Planning Committee chairs concluded the town does not yet show consensus to commit to an MSBA pathway estimated at 50 to 60 million dollars. Member Al Schmertz urged the committee to "force people who waffled before to come in one way or the other," calling further patching "the stupidest thing the town could do." The committee separately approved an FY15 Lincoln town request of $10,258,812 and a Hanscom allocation of $12,257,725, and reviewed an $8.45 million five-year capital projection that staff said grows closer to $15 million once code, swing space and project management are included.