Steuben sets new vote on school closure

STEUBEN – Selectmen are honoring the wishes of 91 people who signed a petition asking for a second vote on whether the town should close the Ella Lewis School and join Gouldsboro and Winter Harbor in the Peninsula Consolidated School District.

The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Wednesday night to bring the issue back to voters before proceeding with the merger.

Now residents will be asked to cast their ballots on the issue for a second time on Monday, March 6.

“It will be the exact same question that there was before,” Deputy Town Clerk Ann Briggs said.

The referendum will be part of the town’s regularly scheduled election day, when polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

On Jan. 23, Steuben residents decided by a 180-159 vote to close the local elementary school and join the CSD, which is planning to build a new facility with the aid of state construction funds.

One week later, residents opposed to consolidation submitted a petition with 91 signatures asking for a revote and citing a snowstorm on the night of the first election as reasoning.

Steuben Selectman Frank Joy said Thursday that state law gives the town 60 days to respond to such a petition and municipal officials opted to act right away rather than prolong the issue.

“We chose not to delay this process any further,” he said. “We don’t want to drag this out.”

Even though he is in favor of consolidation, a revote is appropriate given the number of people who signed the petition, he said.

Peter Weil, another of the town’s four selectmen, agreed.

“I favor consolidation but we got a valid petition with the required number of names on it,” he said. “It has to be honored. There’s no alternative.”

Joining the CSD requires support from both Winter Harbor and Gouldsboro, which consolidated their school systems in 2004.

Both communities have already voiced approval. Gouldsboro residents favored consolidation during a special town meeting Wednesday night, and Winter Harbor voters approved it at their own special meeting Feb. 2.

Steuben residents who support consolidation say closing the 44-year-old school makes financial sense given its state of disrepair and its dropping enrollment. About 100 pupils in kindergarten through eighth grade attend the school.

Opponents say Ella Lewis has been an important part of the community and closing it would have a negative effect on the character of the town.