By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Is the November Election the best time to present to the Naples voters a request for funds to build a new gym-recreational space?

That was the subject at hand. In fact, the Town of Naples held a public hearing about putting the community-center-construction costs on the November ballot.  

Another related question was brought up: How much information do voters prefer before attaching a price tag to any construction project?

More information would be preferred, according to those folks who testified during the public hearing, Engineers’ designs go a long way in helping to make decisions, citizens said.

On Monday, the Naples Board of Selectmen considered placing on the November ballot the request for between $4.5 and $6.5 million for a proposed gym-community center. 

(For clarification, this is for a new gym in a different spot than the existing gym — which has been closed to the public since this winter. At an Aug. 23 Naples Special Town Meeting, residents approved the cost of rebuilding the gym portion of the town hall into office and meeting space. Therefore, what to do with the old gym area has been resolved.)

On Monday, the board decided against putting the cost of the proposed gym/community center on the ballot a few months from now.

First off, the town will hold another special town meeting on Sept. 25, asking residents whether or not to spend $240,000 for detailed sketches of the proposed gym-community center. That cost would also include pre-construction work such as taking soil samples. The board voted, 5-0, to hold a special town meeting for that purpose.

Chairman Ted Shane spoke prior to the board’s vote, which followed more than an hour of discussion.

“I am 110% in favor of a community center. I want one. However, I don’t want to put something on the ballot that is going to get voted down. I don’t want to put something on the ballot that will get voted down the first time or the second time. I was hoping by tonight we would have more info, a set of plans,” he said. “The amount of money needed for a sketch plan, soil evaluation, land survey, all the pre-construction needs is about $240,000.”

The $240,000 will include all the break-downs that people will want to view: the designs and the geotechnical information.

“It will give us a number we can take to taxpayers,” Chairman Shane said. 

The original motion was withdrawn from the floor, and the selectmen voted to ask citizens for a smaller cost, the cost of having more concrete plans to bring to voters and to possibly put out to bid.

Early in the discussion, members of the budget committee expressed their displeasure — in taking construction costs to the voters at this stage.

Committee member Bob Caron II said he could not in good conscious vote on a construction amount without having more information. 

Committee member Jim Turpin said, “My primary focus is to keep government from reaching too deep into taxpayers’ pockets. It looks like we are saying, ‘Give us a $6 million check and trust us.’ This town could end up with a 25% tax increase in a two-year period. We have to ask ourselves, ‘Do we have a Cadillac budget or a Chevy Bel Air budget?’”

However, later, the budget committee supported the final motion, voting 5-1, to recommend a warrant article asking for $240,000.

Turpin opposed, citing money already spent on previous plans that are not being used or recycled.

“What is $240,000 buying relative to other money we spent on engineer plans,” he said.

Budget Committee Member Martina Witts joined via Zoom and thanked the people who came and spoke during the public hearing.

“They are telling us what we should do. They are our yes voters. Nobody said they didn’t want a gym. They all know we need a gym. They told us we are going about this wrong. Six point five (6.5) million might be the best number, but I need someone to prove it to me. You are asking us to make a yes or no decision on a project we don’t have a number for,” Witts said. “We need to be transparent and collaborative. I feel like we’ve given up transparency and collaboration for expediency. I am hoping everyone in that room, all want this project to happen. We need to move forward with 100% support. We need the information. I am not buying anything for $6.5 million unless I know it meets our needs.”