Engineer: ‘The Window Closes in February’ for $10M in State Aid

Turnout at the Tuesday evening for the ’s third and final community forum meeting was roughly the same as the previous two—one on Dec. 12 and another on Jan. 3. But as the board made its final public pitch for its school bond referendum, the message may have been the same, but the messenger was new.

Stephen Boswell, president and CEO of Boswell Engineering, offered his perspective on the $30.2 million referendum just a week before Fort Lee voters go to the polls to determine its fate.

Boswell gave a presentation and overview of the referendum, complete with a school-by-school breakdown of how the money would be spent should it pass and pictures to back up what he was saying, all of which can be found on the district’s special “Bond Referendum 2012” website.

“It comes down to need,” Boswell said. “It comes down to inefficiencies of the buildings that you have right now; it comes down the cost of construction at this time. And most importantly—uniquely in Fort Lee—on Feb. 13, if you haven’t approved this referendum, you lose $10 million from the state of New Jersey."

Pointing out that he was using round numbers because “they make the point a little stronger,” Boswell said in his estimation that of the $30 million, the school district is going to have to spend close to $22 million even if the referendum is voted down for things like roof repairs and replacements, boiler replacements, brick re-pointing and chimney repairs, just to name a few areas school officials have said again and again are in dire need of repair.

Boswell said boilers “are in horrible shape,” and that “the worst thing you can do in any building—any facility—is not replace the roof.”

He also said that now is the “optimal time to do construction” because costs “have come dramatically down.”

“The reason they’ve come down is because the economy is so bad right now, and contractors have no work; they’re very aggressive on their bidding,” he said. “So looking at this right now, if you say $30 million—in my professional opinion—you’re going to spend significantly less than that when this goes through … we’ve never seen numbers this low as the prices that are coming out right now … if you bid these terms now, you will get a lower price than you would have five years ago.”

On inefficient buildings, Boswell said, “We have schools that were built in 1903” and focused specifically on science labs, which would be updated if the referendum passes.

“Remember our standard equipment is tied to science, math and technology,” he said. “We need more kids to go into these fields, but kids are not going to be prepared to go into these fields if you don’t have the labs.”

Boswell called Fort Lee’s situation “unique” because “the window closes in February.”

“That window is to get a $10 million grant back to the Borough of Fort Lee against only a $30 million referendum—or a 33 percent discount,” he said. “If you make the decision on the 24th, and you say yes, you get $10 million from the state of New Jersey. If you say no, you get zero.”

Board of Education president Arthur Levine thanked Fort Lee Mayor Sokolich and members of the Borough Council, all of whom have attended at least one of the board’s community forum meetings—Councilmen Armand Pohan, Michael Sargenti and Harvey Sohmer joined Sokolich Tuesday—for their public and vocal support of the referendum.

“Everyone has been on the tour,” Levine said. “They’ve attended every one of these sessions.”

Sokolich, who has been in attendance at all three public meetings, said that’s because “it’s that important.”

“I don’t think there’s a more counterproductive initiative you could put into place right now than to deny the district this referendum,” the mayor said, adding that “if we want to continue to make sure that Fort Lee to remains an affluent, upscale, always ahead-of-the-class type of community and set the pace here in East Bergen County,” the referendum needs to gain voter approval.

Sokolich added, “There’s not a town in New Jersey that is [affluent] but has a weak school system.”

“It’s an investment in our community,” he said. “We cannot, cannot miss this opportunity because, quite frankly, I’m getting nervous. And I think we’ve got to put ourselves back at the top, especially with the school district.”