In reaction to County Executive Barry Glassman's move to shelve construction funding for a new Havre de Grace high and middle school by not including it in his FY2016 budget, about two dozen people showed up to a County Council budget hearing Wednesday night to once more make a pitch for the replacement project.
About half of the 50 people who attended the hearing in the cavernous William H. Amoss Performing Arts Center at Harford Technical High School in Bel Air sported maroon "Warrior Proud" T-shirts and applauded after three of the five people who spoke during the 30-minute hearing urged the several council members not to forget the school.
Emphasizing safety concerns about the older of the high school's two buildings, Havre de Grace City Councilman David Glenn said: "We hope we don't have an emergency because if we do, somebody is going to get seriously hurt."
Glenn said HHS is the only one of the nine public schools in the county where students have to cross public streets to get from their classes to athletic activities, either in the gym or outdoor fields. He noted that the classroom building, whose basic structure dates from the 1950s, has a single computer lab.
"We're long overdue for a new school," he said. "Would you want your children to go to a school with so many challenges?"
A plan to build a combination high school and middle school on part of the middle school property has been approved by the county board of education and state education officials and has received some initial county funding.
The new building, the cost of which is estimated at almost $87 million, has been designed, but Glassman shelved construction funding for it and all other new projects in his first capital budget.
Glassman, who took office last December and is a Havre de Grace High School graduate, has said the county government needs to ratchet down its borrowing until the economy improves and also needed to commit more financial resources to improving pay for county government employees and for school teachers and other school employees. He has emphasized he did not cancel the Havre de Grace project altogether, but rather has placed an indefinite hold on it.
Glenn, who said he was speaking for the entire city council, warned the county council that the longer the project is delayed, the more it will cost to build. Meanwhile, he said, the county will continue paying high maintenance bills on the existing buildings, money it will never recoup.
"We recognize the financial challenges he [Glassman] has to face," Glenn said. "We can't ignore the challenges our students have to face every day in the classroom."
Glenn said he believes if school, city and county officials appeal directly to Gov. Larry Hogan about the need for the school, how this project can be a "model community school" for the state, Hogan "could easily double" the typical state funding for a project of this size.
Joining Glenn in speaking in support of the HHS project were Thomas Fitzpatrick, the school board member who represents the Havre de Grace area and has been the steward of the project with the board, and city councilman-elect David Martin. Councilwoman-elect Monica Worrell was among the HHS contingent attending the hearing, but did not speak.
Fitzpatrick said the new school project "has come a long way" and he praised Glassman and his staff, saying the whole budget process this year has been "more pleasant and collaborative" compared to the previous two years under the former county administration, which he called "the pit of hell."
"There's been an improvement in tone and substance, not the least of which has been for the Havre de Grace High project," he added.
Fitzpatrick pledged that city and school officials will continue to work with the county administration and county council to get the project funded, noting the design is done and "it's ready to go" when the economy improves. He said the need for the new school is "imperative" and the entire county and city will benefit from having it.
Martin said the new building is needed "to give our teachers a place to teach" and "to allow our students to strive and go forward."
Libraries, deputies pay
George Pfeiffer, who lives near Bel Air and noted he is usually before the council to speak about Walmart, said he wanted to talk briefly about the county library system and its "unbelievable" great customer support.
"It's a wonder how helpful these people are," said Pfeiffer, who said he visits many of the libraries often and noted he has often seen young people "reading old-fashioned books," which he said "brings happiness to my heart."
"The libraries are a crown jewel; please continue to fund them," he said.
Tim Impallaria, president of the Harford County Deputy Sheriff's Union, said he wanted to remind the council of the "broken promises" of the past concerning the deputies' pay plan, which he said was funded in just seven of the past 20 years.
As a consequence, he said, a 20-year deputy sergeant with the Sheriff's Office is making about $40,000 less annually than a comparable law enforcement officer in Baltimore County.
"Our deputies held the line in Baltimore with their counterparts who are being paid at higher rate," he said, referring to the deployment of more than 20 deputies to assist in keeping the peace during the recent riots in the city.
Impallaria said the $1,000 raises the deputies, correctional officers and other Sheriff's Office employees will be getting in the FY 2016 budget is "a small step" and he urged the council to make keeping the contract with the deputies on their pay plan a priority going forward.