Selectmen Upset With Robinson Roof Repair

Selectmen say the school department ignored advice of town officials who warned them to clean off school roofs during the storms of January, delaying the measure unnecessarily, endangering small children, and costing the town thousands of dollars that could have been avoided.

The angry response by several board members followed the receipt of a bill for $66,000 due to three separate contractors hired to clean off the roofs after an evacuation of the Robinson School early in February.

"It was an emergency," said selectman Olivier Kozlowski, "but I'm just blown away by that."

Staff at Robinson had noticed ominous signs in the ceilings and sprinkler heads mounted overhead.

Children were quickly taken to other schools, prompting a response by the fire department and public safety officials, who authorized removing the snow with snow blowers and shovelers on the roof. A weekend of cleanup followed before children were allowed back in the school.

"We went to the schools and said they needed to address their roof issues," said Mansfield Town Manager William Ross. "They didn't do what they needed to do in time. Then they were in an emergency situation.

"The town side did theirs early. We didn't pay nearly that much."

Member Doug Annino pulled no punches, saying the fact that the schools ignored advice presented to them by the town's building inspection department was a serious issue.

"The schools are not private," he said. "We had the building inspector telling them. I think we have to address that. My concern is safety - it's a huge issue. How do we address that? I don't think it can be left alone."

Ross said parents of the students were taken aback and angry at the situation.

The discussion pointed out once more the sometimes contentious divisions between the town and school departments, who are at odds frequently over turf issues such as budgets and buildings.

When chairman Kevin Moran said the board needed to streamline the process of building safety, putting in place one person who makes the call, and requiring all town officials to comply, Ross said, "The issue is how do you get them to do it."

"You have Nick (Riccio, the building inspector) go in and evacuate every single person if it's unsafe," Annino said.

"He has that authority," said Ross.

Member George Dentino said one person should be designated to evaluate the snow load and make the call to begin remedies when it is determined the load is at the halfway point.

"The town and the schools both have a director of buildings," said Jess Aptowitz. "We all have kids there. It should be as soon as Nick or (Mansfield Fire Chief) Neil (Boldrighini) say do something, you jump."

Annino, an architect, noted there are many ways to determine whether the snow load on a building is approaching the unsafe zone.

"What bothers me is that they were warned and did not pay attention," he said. "The building inspector is our agent. He should be making the call."

Ross noted the schools should have addressed the problem immediately after the load was estimated. "That's what we did with ours," he said.

"It's all ours," said Aptowitz.

Moran suggested getting school department officials in to a joint meeting to re-evaluate what had happened, and come up with a hard and fast hierarchy for the future.