UASB election results deciphered
Opponents and supporters of the planned $43 million renovation/construction project at Uniontown Area High School differ as to whether this week’s school board election sends a message that the project is too large and too costly for taxpayers. Incumbents William Rittenhouse Jr., Dorothy Grahek and board President Harry “Dutch” Kaufman were re-elected, while Republican newcomer Lloyd A. Williams received more votes than independent candidate Timothy Sandstrom and incumbent Charles C. Castor to earn a seat on the board.
Kaufman said his re-election shows that there is support in the district for the project.
“I believe I’ve received a mandate from my constituents to do what I have been doing, to keep moving the district forward and to continue this project,” said Kaufman.
He added that the project is too far advanced for the board to stop now.
“There’s already been millions spent in soft costs and it would be a severe mistake to change at this point,” he said. Kaufman said he and architect Mark Altman met with numerous community groups to explain the project and the board held a required, advertised public hearing in April about the work.
He explained that about half of the building, which includes the oldest part, will be demolished as part of the project, but the other 50 percent, which includes the auditorium and swimming pool, will be renovated.
The Rev. Peter Malik, who has led the charge since July against the board’s plan, said the election indicates that the public is upset with the project and the board.
He said Kaufman’s fourth-place showing in Tuesday’s election and Castor’s defeat are clear indications that the high school project is too large in size and in the tax burden on residents.
Malik said the high school project was the defining issue of the 2005 school board election.
“Five more board members are up in two more years and I would tell them to take notice,” he said. “If they don’t change some of this and do what the public wants, they won’t get re-elected. They’ll be known as the ‘Wrecking Ball Six.'”
Malik claimed that Kaufman should remember what he said back in 1997 when he and a group of challengers ousted a slate of incumbents in a Uniontown Area School Board election. At the time, Kaufman and the challengers had come out strongly against a controversial realignment plan backed by the incumbents. Malik maintained at that time Kaufman said the public had spoken and the board should listen.
“Those words were true eight years ago and they are true today,” he said. “I hope he heeds his words and realizes that the public has spoken.”
Malik said with the election over, the public eye will remain on the school board and the progress of the high school project.
Williams, who will begin a term on the board next month, said the vote indicated that the residents of the school district wanted a change on the school board.
“I’m glad the people feel that I’m a person that can be a new voice for them,” he said. “We need to do the best we can and stay within out budget.”
Williams reiterated earlier comments that he would like to thoroughly research the high school project if he has the opportunity to do so. The board could solicit bids for the project as early as its Nov. 21 meeting.
“I heard from the people that they wanted more information and they are not in favor of spending $43 million,” he said. “This vote sent a message to the board that they work for the people and they aren’t 100 percent happy.”
Sandstrom, who came in fifth out of six candidates, was the strongest foe of the high school project on the ballot. He said Tuesday’s vote sends a message to the candidates on the ballot this year, but also to any of the five incumbent board members that might be thinking about re-election in 2007.
“The voters don’t want this project. The people in the mountains don’t want it, the people in Menallen Township don’t want it and the citizens of Uniontown don’t want it,” he said. “If this goes forward, it will be political suicide for those five members.”
Sandstrom said he is unsure whether he will seek a seat on the board in two years, but said he and others will be keeping a close watch on the school board. He added that voters of the school district are waking up.
“Voters are telling elected officials that we are going to hold them accountable, whether at the state level, at the township or on the school board,” he said.
Grahek, who chairs the board’s buildings and grounds committee, said the board will review plans for the project at a committee meeting prior to this Tuesday’s work session.
She said the high school issue was the “overriding factor” for most voters, but said she’s unsure how much can be changed at this point in the process.
“Obviously, the people felt very strongly and it is up to us to listen to the public,” she said. “We’re at the point where we have to make up our minds.”
Grahek, who opposed the $30 million bond issue for the high school, stressed that the government requires school districts that borrow money through bond issues to spend that money in a designated amount of time.
She said if the board decides to scale back the project, some of that leftover bond money could be used for renovations at Lafayette School, which is next in line in the district’s facilities plan.
“We have to be responsible to the public and the taxpayers,” Grahek said. “I certainly and absolutely heard them.”
Rittenhouse, who was the top vote-getter in Tuesday’s election, said the high school project was one factor that impacted the results, but not the only issue.
“I think that sometimes people are ready for a change and there were enough issues this time to get the people’s interest,” he said.
Rittenhouse, who, like Grahek, opposed a $30 million bond issue for the high school, said changing course on the high school project now would likely cost the district in several ways.
“Any change could result in a lot of extra costs and possibly litigation for the school district, and it affects our ability to borrow money when it comes to work on the city schools” he said.
He said the district has to now manage the high school project efficiently.
“We have to move forward with our new board member and address all the challenges that are at hand and those that will come up in the next four years,” Rittenhouse said. “I look forward to doing what the taxpayers elected us to do.”
While the board will only change one member, Kaufman said the board will not be the same without Castor, who was defeated Tuesday.
“We lost a dedicated school board member and in my 16 years, I’ve never seen anyone more dedicated than Mr. Castor,” he said. “I feel bad that he won’t be on the school board, but I welcome Mr. Williams, and I am sure he can blend in and work with us.”