Northeastern expected to ‘pony up’ for Nahant school

NAHANT – Town Administrator Andy Bisignani announced at an Advisory and Finance Committee meeting that he believes Northeastern University may be assisting the Johnson School with its technology.The announcement came during a discussion of Article 19 set for the town warrant for the spring’s Town Meeting, which would appropriate the Johnson School about $58,000 to purchase computers and related equipment and software.Chairman Christopher Dent was wary of purchasing technology that could become obsolete in five years, given the $58,000 will be coming from borrowed funds. Dent said the committee should make recommendations based on purchases with a life expectancy that will exceed that amount of time needed to pay off the debt.Bisignani told Dent that the computers would last five to seven years and would include maintenance. He added that Northeastern University may be assisting the school in the particular area of technology, after they pledged to assist the Johnson School while appearing before the Board of Selectmen on Thursday, Feb 21.Bisignani said Superintendent Phil Devaux put a particular emphasis on the need for technology at the Johnson School when he met with the university officials. “I think Northeastern will pony up,” said Bisignani. “Rich Lombard really woke them up. I’m very optimistic that something good will come out of this.”In another part of the meeting, Dent suggested additional funds be added to some items in the budget. Dent said the fire department’s fuel account for their vehicles was consistently underfunded, the cause of a recent $4,000 transfer into the account. In order to add another $1,500 to the fuel account, Dent proposed a reduction in the information technology salary.Dent also suggested additional funds be put toward call firefighter training, part-time seasonal help for the town clerk, and more hours for the assistant librarians.Bisignani told Dent that the salary in question had been increased because of the increase in that position’s hours, and that he would work with the selectmen to find money elsewhere in the town budget.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].