Staff Writer
HOULTON — A proposed $5 million bond for SAD 29 voters gained majority approval at the polls last week.
The bond, which will finance repairs at Houlton High School and support the expansion arts center at the high school, was approved with a collective 1,159 ‘yes’ votes versus 480 votes in the negative by member towns of Houlton, Littleton, Monticello and Hammond.
The arts center expansion, by far the most-talked-about aspect of the bond, will gain $2.5 million from the vote. Members of the Houlton Community Arts Center Council have pledged to raise equal amounts in private funding to complete the added and enhanced arts space.
“I am extremely pleased with the high percentage of ‘yes’ votes for this bond referendum,” said high school teacher Joe Fagnant, president of the arts center council. “The $2.5 million for the arts center will meet the grave need to make a larger facility for our present programs and also much more space for growth and development of the arts. It’s truly an exciting time to make such a major change to a facility that will be used by many generations to come.”
Fred Grant, part of the arts center fund-raising committee, said he, too, was encouraged by the vote.
“I was just ecstatic,” he said last week. “To get 70 percent of the vote was great. It showed there was lots of support for this project. We were optimistic about the vote, but you never know until it actually happens.”
Grant also said the fund-raising committee is hoping raise the remaining $2.5 million by July.
“We are definitely motivated, and I think we can do it,” said Grant. “People have been very encouraging. … It’s going to require a lot of work and time on our parts to get it done by then, but I think it’s do-able. I think the town and the community will back us and say, ‘Let’s get it done.’”
Also part of the bond is $2.5 million to complete repairs at the high school. Over the years, that work had been done piece by piece.
Fagnant, also chair of the high school’s ongoing accreditation process, said the money will make a positive difference.
“I strongly believe that the $2.5 million in renovation money will assist us in many areas that need to be addressed so that we may make changes that will be looked on as progressive since our last accreditation,” he added.
Superintendent Steve Fitzpatrick was also upbeat about the voters’ OK.
“I was very pleased,” he said. “I think it’s very timely and very needed. I really appreciate this vote from citizens: I think it’s a very positive statement of their continuing support for education.”
