In a last-minute compromise, the Swampscott Select Board voted 3-1 to allocate $30,000 of local American Rescue Plan Act funding in order to fund an expert consultant for the design and construction of a 60-room boutique hotel at the site of the former Hadley Elementary School.
Since Town Meeting’s vote to approve the school-to-hotel conversion in May, the Town published a request for proposals with the aim of selecting two to four developers to present their proposals to the Town in January.
At Wednesday night’s Select Board meeting, Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald requested that the board vote to allocate the ARPA funds to pay Pinnacle Advisory Group, a hotel advisory firm the Town hired to assist with the RFP development and act as Swampscott’s primary consultant for the hotel project.
Opening discussions, Select Board member Peter Spellios expressed his support for the proposed allocation, arguing that Pinnacle’s knowledge and expertise is, and will be, necessary for the RFP selection as well as the project planning in general.
“They (Pinnacle) are absolutely critical for this next step. They’ve been critical now, but I just want to share with this board that they are not going to be making the decisions that this board makes, but they are going to be able to at least give a professional assessment of financial quality and subject matter expertise,” Spellios said. “We don’t have another resource that provides that information.”
Select Board member Doug Thompson, on the other hand, opposed voting to spend any amount of the Town’s $2.1 million in local ARPA funds independently, until the board has a chance to discuss and vote on the bulk sum.
Thompson added that the Town had sufficient funds in its operational budget to pay the consultants.
“I’d be happy to have a conversation about the entire $2.1 (million). But we’ve had previous conversations about doing little bits here and there and that didn’t fly before, so I’m not really sure why it flies now, given the fact that — as I understand it — we actually do have the money in the operating budget to cover what we owe currently,” Thompson said. “I’m ready, willing, and prepared to talk about the whole $2.1 million, but I’m not on board with $15,000 or $30,000 for this, or that, or the other thing piecemeal.”
Fitzgerald responded that he did not think it would be financially sensible to pull the funds out of the Town’s operational budget, adding that it might hinder the board’s ability to fund future projects.
After a somewhat heated debate, Spellios’ motion to allocate the funds went without a second, and ultimately failed. Fitzgerald encouraged Thompson to reconsider another motion, suggesting a willingness to compromise in future ARPA funding discussions.
Prior to the board’s motion to adjourn in the last five minutes of the meeting, Thompson revisited the motion, which passed 3-1 with Select Board member MaryEllen Fletcher voting in opposition.
In an interview with The Item Thursday, Fletcher said that the Town has underfunded budget items such as the hiring of a diversity, equity, and inclusion officer and a town planner, leaving it at least $100,000 under budget.
“There was a whole lot of drama for nothing,” Fletcher said. “Sean has the money in his budget… I voted the way I did because I just don’t believe that the ARPA fund should be a slush fund to use for other things — stay within our budgets and use ARPA for what it’s meant to be used for.”
Fitzgerald, in a separate interview with The Item on Thursday, said he was pleased that the board was willing to compromise.
“Democracy is imperfect, but when we actually take the extra effort to work together, it makes a difference. I really appreciate the board’s careful deliberations — they are all passionate, they all care deeply about the town, and and they worked toward compromise. That’s the essence of trying to make a government work,” Fitzgerald said. “When we show people that we can find common ground, I think that’s a great exercise in good government.”
