Bus Barn Battle: Newport School and Town Officials Discuss Bus Barn Eviction
Interim Superintendent Donna Magoon at the selectboard meeting where the vote to reaffirm the notice vacate occurred.
Town Manager Hunter Reiseberg at a Newport Town Meeting.
NEWPORT- A recent selectboard meeting that reaffirmed a bus barn eviction notice served to the school district left school board members frustrated.
Town officials said they reached out to the district prior to issuing the notice but received no response.
“I have to say, I was disappointed in the response of the chairman of the selectboard because, excuse my language, he told me that we needed to ‘stop our b*******,” School Board Chair Jenna Darling said March 9.
“I made my statements at that meeting, and it was very clear that the decision had already been made and felt more like a public slap on the wrist to myself and Donna [Magoon],” she said, addressing her frustration.
The notice to vacate was emailed to Interim Superintendent Donna Magoon from Town Manager Hunter Reiseberg.
“I reached out to the superintendent several times with emails saying, ‘Hey what’s going on with the bus barn? Are you going to pay rent?’ And I got nothing,” Reiseberg informed the Eagle Times.
Magoon and Reiseberg agree that in November the board voted to withhold rent and to redirect those funds to barn upgrades.
Magoon and Transportation Manager Caleb Godwin conveyed that the bus section wasn’t heated and had dirt floors. This is problematic because Godwin and the other mechanic, who is in his 80’s, are forced to lay down cardboard when working on the buses from underneath.
Magoon said the original vote was rescinded and a letter wasn’t sent to the town. Reiseberg stated that he and the selectboard had become aware of the initial vote, which led to his attempt to communicate.
The superintendent claimed to have reached out, seeking to better understand issues prior to committing taxpayer money. The confusion was compounded when rent was raised for use of the barn due to heightened electricity costs, which Magoon was under the impression the district had been paying for already.
Reiseberg also conveyed rent was raised because fees had not been adjusted for 30 years.
“I had the epiphany right here in the office; we could use the two bays that the school didn’t want for ambulance parking,” Reiseberg said. “Considering that the ambulance storage building will have to come down, it is going to save a lot of money to not have to build an entire new building.”
“We are really concerned for the older people that drive these buses,” Magoon said. “The town has offered for us to park outside at the bus barn lot, but if there is snow on the buses, the drivers aren’t going to be able to clear them off. It’s hard enough as it is to try and get and keep drivers.”
District buses will not be able to park in the barn after June 30.
In response to the town’s decision, the school board has drafted an advisory warrant article asking town residents to vote in April to advise the selectboard to lease the bays of the bus barn for one dollar for 99 years.
