Reprinted from The TrumbulL Times © Copyright 2009
May 28, 2009

By Donald Eng

Rumors of the Trumbull natatorium's death may have been premature.

After taking a week to digest the ramifications of the state Department of Education denial of partial reimbursement for the $5 million pool and building, Trumbull's legislative delegation studied the state statute.

State Sen. Anthony Musto, D-22nd District, then called School Facilities Chief David Wedge and asked where the authority to deny funding to such projects comes from Wedge's response?

"He said he'd get back to me," Musto said.

It was Wedge's May 14 letter to School Supt. Ralph Iassogna that killed the project, for now at least. Town officials had been counting on the state reimbursing the town for 15.3% of the cost of the pool, which was to have been in a freestanding building adjacent to the football field.

The building would have included facilities for the school's sports teams and additional amenities for fans, including a snack bar and rest rooms. The new pool also would have served as the venue for the school's swim teams, which currently use the pool at Hillcrest Middle School.

Though Hillcrest shares a campus with Trumbull High, the 40-year-old pool at the school has air quality problems and access deficits under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Parents have complained that community groups using the pool share bathrooms and locker facilities with students.

Wedge based the denial on the fact that the pool would have been open for community use while school was in session. In fact, the combined nature of the pool usage was one reason for the freestanding building.

"As previously discussed, to be eligible for grant assistance, one major test is that the facility must be under the full control of the local Board of Education and be for exclusive school use during normal school hours" he wrote. "Because this pool will be used for non-school use during normal school hours, the costs of the natatorium will not be legible for school construction and grant assistance."

But State Statute 10-286, which addresses education funding, does not prohibit such mixed use, though the school facilities bureau has long made it a practice of denying projects that combine school and community use. Wedge said the bureau has long made it a practice of denying projects that combine school and community use. Wedge said the bureau has denied funding for an auditorium and even retroactively took back funds when a town built a library inside a school and then operated the addition as a community library.

The discovery that the state denial of more than $750,000 in grant funds for a Trumbull pool may rest with a nearly arbitrary set of criteria opens the issue, Musto said.

"There appears to be no statutory reason for the denial, nor is there any court decision or anything else we can point to." Musto said. "If that's the case, then the town has to decide what it wants to do."

Musto and state representatives T.R. Rowe, R-123rd District, and Tony Hwang, R-134th District, plan to meet with town administration officials in January and decide what actions, if any, are appropriate.

"I would be happy to met with the first selectman, whoever it is, and decide how and if to proceed," Rowe said. "Ultimately, it is going to be their decision."

But amending the state statutes is only an option if there is a statutory authority to deny funding for the projects like Trumbull High's natatorium. So far, Musto said, he hasn't seen it.

"In this case, there may be an application of the rules that is entirely too strict," he said. "It seems to me that if something is going to be primarily for school use, but the community can use it when it is available, that may be excessive."

For his part, Hwang said he would be willing to take a long look at legislative options after the current session ends, but regardless of where the authority for the funds rests, he also wants answers about how the state denial could have stunned town leaders in May, when the project was slated to begin immediately after school let out for the summer.

"Something went awry, and it's quite disconcerting," he said. "The people charged with fully understanding the workings of this project have somehow missed that very important detail."