Select Board Approves Study for Martin School Lot

The Seekonk Select Board authorized funding for an engineering study of the Martin Elementary School parking lot at their August 5 meeting. The cost of the study is $50,000.

At last May’s Town Meeting, the school department asked for $975,000 to replace the asphalt, curbing, and drainage of the parking lot at Martin School. The article was defeated, even after a motion was made to request $447,000 so the project could be done in phases.

Chair Gary Sagar voted in favor of the article, although he told Town Administrator Shawn Cadime he had no recollection of supporting it at the June 16 meeting with the School Department. “We talked about what a disaster that warrant article was and the whole process,” Sagar said. “If we sign this, we’re liable for it.”

“I did have a conversation with (Superintendent Rebecca Kidwell),” Cadime replied. “You’re the one that brought up the fact that you wanted us to use GPI. You even asked me where the money was going to come from. I said we could potentially use (fiscal year 2026) encumbrances. You told me to move forward with that.”

“I think a lot of people took offense (to the warrant article),” member Michael Healy said. “It’s a project that needs to move forward and we need to get a better number, rather than a guess of $900,000.”

“The smartest thing you could do is hire an engineer and have them do an evaluation,” Sagar told members of the School Committee at the July 26 Quad Board meeting. “That’s where you are going to get your best pricing to repair it.”