Schools Board Likes Concept for Town Center Upgrade
• Trustees Drop Their Grant Writer in Favor Combined Plan
Jul 27, 2010 – A high level of cooperation between the Nutley Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners has developed in recent months, first evidenced by both levels of government adopting common measures to ease the impact of Trenton's severe fiscal restraints, and continuing to last night when school trustees gave an informal thumbs up to cooperating with the Commission with plans to upgrade a large area of the "town center" with federal funds.
A strong indication of this new cooperative respect between the boards came last night when the Board of Education terminated its relationship with Bruno Associates, a firm hired earlier this year to explore sources of monetary grants.
Earlier last night, trustee Charles Kucinski noted that town Commissioners had discussed plans with their grant writer, Susan Scavone, to consider developing a "town center" upgrade with federal funding. Commissioners said they were considering a plan that would involve the area around Town Hall including the Park Oval, the rebuilding of the cement bleachers, and extending to areas south on Franklin Avenue and east on Centre Street.
"I'd like our board to consider moving foward with the plan, especially since it might involve our Park Oval," Kucinski said.
Trustee Steven Rogers agreed. "Sue Scavone seems to be doing significant work for the township," Rogers said, and he suggested the possibility of the board entering in some type of intra-local agreement with the town.
Board President Ken Reilly announced that he too had some preliminary discussions about participating with the township in the overall upgrade envisioned by the Board of Commissioners. Reilly noted the Commission's discussions earlier this month included not only the Park Oval, but the high school building and the Walker Middle School as well.
In preliminary discussions with the Board of Commissioners, Scavone said the overall plan, if approved, would not become a reality for at least a decade.
In other business last night, the Board of Education spent the first 45 minutes of its session honoring high school athletes. Special commendations whet to Luann Zullo who was named the "Star Ledger's Coach of the Year" for her work with the girl's varsity softball team which finished as the runner up in the 2010 state championship game.
