Brewer school needs emergency bill OK’d

BREWER – When school officials held a local referendum in December to see what residents thought of a new $39.5 million prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade school, they missed a small but important detail before it was approved overwhelmingly.

To rectify the minor issue, the Legislature is considering an emergency bill sponsored by state Sen. Richard Rosen and state Rep. Charles Fisher titled “An act to validate certain proceedings authorizing the issuance of bonds and notes by the city of Brewer High School District.”

“The new school project has gone through all the necessary steps needed to receive approval, but there was one technicality that didn’t occur,” Rosen said. “The issue was the law requires that a sample ballot be advertised. That didn’t happen.”

A sample ballot was posted on the city’s Web site before the Dec. 4 local referendum, but was not published in a newspaper as required by city charter.

“The failure to publish the specimen ballots has created a legal technicality that could affect the marketability of the bonds or notes to be issued … in connection with the project,” the proposed bill states.

The bill, if approved, basically would validate the referendum results and address any questions raised by the bond council, Rosen said.

Rosen submitted the bill, LD 2234, on March 4 and the State and Local Government Committee reviewed it on March 6. The committee voted unanimously to adopt the bill, Rosen said.

The House and the Senate now must vote on the measure, and a two-thirds majority is required since it’s an emergency bill, he said. Those votes are expected by the end of the week.

“I don’t see any problems with that happening,” Rosen said. “I think this is something that will move very quickly. The Legislature … recognizes the time-sensitive nature of this issue.”

Nearly nine out of 10 residents cast ballots during the December vote in favor of the new school, which is designed to replace five aging and deteriorating schools in the city, all built at least 50 years ago. After years of work, the state’s Board of Education had approved the project and the local referendum was the last step needed for final approval.

Construction on the new elementary-middle school, called the Brewer Community School by the building committee, is set to begin later this year. The new school is scheduled to be complete in June 2010.