T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Union Local maintenance and grounds director Jim Hess shows town hall meeting attendees the extensive HVAC problems facing the district.

MORRISTOWN — With millions in building repairs looming and a levy on the May 5 ballot, Union Local officials made their final pitch to voters — but only a handful of residents showed up.

The newly formed Union Local Foundation for the Future Political Action Committee held its final town hall meeting ahead of the May 5 primary election.

A five-year, 3-mill permanent improvement levy will be on the ballot that would cost the average property owner roughly $160 a year or $13 a month.

The meeting was held at Union Local High School and saw Superintendent Zac Shutler, committee chair Taylore Frasnelly and maintenance and grounds Director Jim Hess speak about why they believe the levy passing is a must.

The committee has hosted six town hall meetings in various locations around the school district, with the final happening in the high school’s cafeteria along with a guided tour of the school to show attendees what needs to be updated.

Shutler said that the levy would help upgrade and maintain the high school and elementary buildings that opened in the late 1990s, as well as the middle school, which was built in 1959.

He said that the school needs to fix the pipes, electrical outlets, roofs that are leaking and sidewalks.

“We’re operating on the 20 mil floor and what that means is we do see some additional revenue when property valuations go up, but there’s a cap on it. It’s basically a cost of living adjustment. So it gives us extra money for things like fuel and utility costs, but it doesn’t address those major infrastructure needs,” Shutler said. “The last Levy we tried to pass in Nov. was a continuous Levy, which means that if it was ever approved, it would stay on the books forever. It was criticized as being for a forever tax, and I understand where people are coming from, but we are able to make that one 2-mills instead of 3-mills.”

Shutler noted that when a levy is continuous, that revenue is always coming in for the district.

“If that would have been approved, we could have borrowed somewhere between $14 and $16 million to start tackling these $30 million plus of repairs and replacements which would allow us to offset some of the inflation costs,” Shutler said. “We listened to the community. We sent out surveys, most of the negative reaction to that was the continuous aspect they wanted, the ability to hold the school district accountable and make sure that we were doing what we said with the money we obliged and made it five years.”

He also said that the levy funds are only able to be used for building maintenance and infrastructure repairs, not salaries or sports expenses.

“My job as a superintendent is I can only give you the facts, I can’t tell you how to vote, but I want people to see the need of the district, the need of our students, and I think every community loves their school and wants to support it,” Shutler said. “Our goal is to make sure that Union Local is a viable option for kids in this area for decades to come.”

On Monday, the middle and high school were dismissed early due to a sewage leak.

“The mop sink in one of the janitor’s closets was just backing up with sewage. As soon as we walked in and the smell just hit you right in the face,” Hess said. “Right away I got a hold of Mr. Shutler said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna need to get the kids out of here. I knew it was pretty bad at that point. I’ve never seen it like that.'”

He said the sewage was coming back up through the mop sink, toilets and bathroom sinks.

“I knew we had a pretty good blockage there. So I knew we needed to get a company out here to give us a hand,” Hess said.

Hess said the roof also leaks regularly.

“We fight leaks, we find a leak, we fix it, and then we have more leaks. So we’ve got leaks in our high school gym, commons area and in at least two or three classrooms,” Hess said. “We’re just fighting a never ending battle until we can get them replaced.”

He said the HVACs also need updating due to everything being 30 years old.

Hess said that the middle school alone has eight to 10 units that are currently out of commission and need to be replaced, while four or five units need replaced in the elementary school.

“The thing with the HVAC system that people don’t understand is that there’s over 200 units throughout the building,” Hess said. “We have cooling towers and chillers that run all of that, but each classroom, each hallway, has a separate unit. So it’s just not one HVAC unit, it’s multiple and again, we’re to the point now where we’re having a hard time finding parts. If we can find the parts it’s $4-$5,000 to repair or $15 to $20 grand to replace.”

He said it is hard to put a lot of money into the HVAC systems without knowing how long they will last.

Despite the various meetings, social media posts and media coverage, Tuesday’s meeting was poorly attended.

Frasnelly said the meetings were created with the intention to answer property owners’ questions, but that can’t happen if nobody attends.

“We’re having our final town hall tonight at the school, which includes a tour throughout the building so people can see for themselves the infrastructural needs at Union Local. You know, we’ve seen a lot of supporters come out and we very much appreciate that. But this was also an opportunity for folks who were maybe on the fence or didn’t really think that this levy was necessary to come out and get those concerns addressed,” she said. “That was the biggest part of these town halls going to each community. So there’s not really too much that we can do on our end when we’re talking to empty chairs. We needed that participation.”

The meetings took place in Centerville, Belmont, Flushing, Bethesda, a virtual meeting and then at the high school.

Frasnelly said open conversations only work when there’s participation from the community. She said that although the town halls didn’t go the way she wanted, property owners still have until May 5 to get their questions answered or concerns addressed by district officials.

Following the meeting, the committee took to social media to express its frustration.

“We held our final town hall and school tour tonight. Eleven people showed up. Union Local students, our kids, deserve more than eleven people in a room. Let me be clear, this is not a reflection of the committee or the district. We have shown up. We have made ourselves available. We have had the conversations. But those conversations don’t go very far when no one is there to have them with us.”