Nauset Towns To Partner On Regionalization And Efficiency Grant

ORLEANS – Between a new elementary school, a new fire station and potentially a new community center, Orleans’ needs are many. But while there’s been plenty of discussion around those various efforts, there’s been little in the way of progress.

But town administrators and managers on the Lower and Outer Cape hope that a state grant could help their communities move forward on their various needs together.

Orleans, Brewster, Eastham and Wellfleet, as well as Nauset School Superintendent Brooke Clenchy, are collaborating on an application for a regionalization and efficiency grant through the state Department of Labor Services. If awarded, the funding could help the towns gather the data needed to make decisions related to aging infrastructure. It could also shed some light on opportunities for regionalizing resources.

“This study could identify potential areas to improve operating efficiencies in our elementary schools while ensuring that we maintain our exceptional educational standards, and it would allow town and school leaders to make informed decisions about those major capital investments,” Brewster Town Administrator Peter Lombardi said in an email last week.

Orleans Town Manager Kim Newman said that the data will hopefully take the town out of the holding pattern it finds itself in relative to discussions about the town’s various infrastructure needs.

“At least it will give us some data to start making educated decisions around,” she told the select board Nov. 15.

Specifically, Newman said the grant could help provide information about the town’s current infrastructure, possible location options and school enrollment. In addition to the region’s elementary schools, the scope would also include Nauset Regional Middle School, she said.

Up to $250,000 is offered through the grant, an application for which would be submitted in January ahead of its February deadline.

The application comes as demand for new facilities in Orleans is outpacing the availability of town land to accommodate them. That has led to conversations about the possibility of renovating the existing Orleans Elementary School property into a multipurpose campus space that could accommodate multiple buildings, including a new elementary school building.

“Do we start looking at a master plan campus for that property?” asked Select Board chair Michael Herman.

The original portion of the elementary school dates back to 1956, while the neighboring fire station, which was built in 1987, has been deemed too small and outdated to meet the needs of a modern fire station.

The Orleans Elementary School Committee last year entertained conversations about building a new fire station on an acre of school land right outside the station’s current footprint, but those talks fell through in July 2022.

Brewster, meanwhile, has also been exploring options for its aging Stony Brook and Eddy elementary school buildings, Lombardi said. Stony Brook is in need of $8 million worth of HVAC improvements, Lombardi told the Brewster School Committee Nov. 16, while Eddy is in need of a new roof at an estimated cost of $3 million.

But like Orleans Elementary, there’s a limit to how much money Brewster can invest in the aging buildings without having to bring them fully up to code. Last Thursday the Brewster School Committee voted to support the pursuit of the regionalization and efficiency grant.

In an email last week, Lombardi said efforts to garner support from school committees and select boards across the four towns will continue in the coming weeks.

“Once we understand the level of interest and support we have across the four towns, we will then develop a scope of work that will be shared out with the key stakeholders before the application is submitted by the February deadline,” he said.

A meeting was held Nov. 14 between Newman, Clenchy, members of the Orleans Elementary School Committee and the Orleans select board and finance committee about “possible next steps for OES,” Gail Briere, who chairs the elementary school committee, told committee members at their Nov. 16 meeting.

Briere in her update said that there is a “strong likelihood” that the application will result in grant funding for the participating towns.

“We are hoping that by May of 2025, a clearer path for moving forward can be established based on facts gathered and ongoing discussions on our level and with the town leaders and the regional school committee,” she said.

In the short term, Briere said “an emergency plan” is needed for how to address needed repairs at the existing school should they arise. Repairs cannot exceed 30 percent of the school’s assessed value without requiring that the entire building be brought up to code. That would cost an estimated $44.6 million, according to figures presented to the select board in August.

Briere said she plans to ask Clenchy to form a committee to look at creating that emergency plan. She said additional discussion about the grant and the possibility of a campus plan for the OES property will be discussed further at the committee’s Dec. 18 meeting.

The select board in Orleans also voiced support Nov. 15 for pursuing the grant. Herman called Orleans “the hub of the Lower Cape,” and as such should be proactive toward finding regional solutions.

“We should be leading these conversations and inviting people to the table,” he said.

If the grant is awarded, a consultant would be hired to lead a feasibility study. Newman said the select board would then prioritize what projects they want included in the study’s scope. From there, an article seeking support for the study would ideally come before voters at the annual town meeting in May.

“If there’s a way that we can maybe collaborate on something and then put it before the voters and see, that might be a pathway,” she said. “And then if it doesn’t pass on that pathway, then maybe we pivot back to individual projects.”

While she said talk of regionalization can be met with nervousness by residents and community members, Newman said she’s hopeful that the grant process can help save the stakeholder towns “time, effort and money.” Looking forward, she said towns need to approach issues with an eye toward collaboration.

“These silos are real, and they’re strong,” she said following the Nov. 15 meeting. “The answer shouldn’t just be ‘no.’ We should be collaborating. If we want to be truly honest, we should be considering a regional approach to everything we do, and every decision we’re making here should be about 2040.”

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com