Mayor Reasserts Authority In Letter to Building Committee

Mayor Dan Drew swears in members of the Woodrow Wilson/Keigwin
Building Committee (BOE photo).

Mayor Dan Drew has responded to the building committee charged with exploring the proposal to building a new middle school in Middletown, after the committee suggested that the mayor did not have the authority to eliminate potential sites for the proposed new school.

In his letter (below) the mayor suggests that he does have the authority to eliminate prospective sites on the basis of deed restrictions (Pat Kidney field), and public safety (the termination of Hunting Hill Avenue).

Indeed, the mayor suggests that the committee has not followed its initial charge of determining whether a new middle school is needed at all.

"It was and is important to evaluate not just where a new school should be built, but whether one should be built," the mayor writes (italics are the mayor's).

And while the mayor writes to the committee that "Your 'charge' does not include building on top of our streets or overturning the will of the people in providing for their public spaces," he closes by saying "I would love nothing more than to see the first-class facilities our students deserve."

The mayor has invited the committee chairs to contact him with "questions."

The building committee meets tonight, Thursday March 30, 7 PM, Room 2008 City Hall.