By Winslow Durgin,Special to the Sun Journal

MINOT – A School Committee plan to tap the town’s development impact fee fund to help defray the costs of setting up a modular classroom at Minot Consolidated School met resistance at Monday night’s selectmen’s meeting.

Committee Chairman Colleen Quint acknowledged that the impact fee funds are earmarked for permanent capital improvements at the school and thus using them to pay for the lease/purchase of a reconditioned modular unit likely wouldn’t qualify.

“But could we use that money to pay for site preparation? That would be about $60,000. Could the site prep work be considered permanent?” asked Quint.

Quint explained that the 28- by 68-foot, two-classroom unit would be installed on a concrete pad directly behind the school gymnasium, and that it would not be attached to the school building.

Selectman Ralph Gilpatrick noted that, as a detached, freestanding unit, it was “not at all like the middle school modular” installed a decade ago, and that it would be a hard sell to consider the project as permanent infrastructure.

Keying on the notion of permanence, Selectman Dean Campbell asked whether the committee considered the proposal a permanent solution to the school’s space needs.

“It may become permanent. It may be the best we can do,” responded Quint.

Selectmen took no action on Quint’s request, noting that further thought into what constituted being permanent was necessary.

The $60,000 would pay for site work, a concrete pad, utility connections, steps and ramps.

The overall plan the committee is asking March town meeting voters to approve carries a $93,000 price tag, all of which would be local funds.

Quint noted that the committee and the town’s Budget Committee agreed on all items in the proposed budget except the one for the modular addition, which the Budget Committee opposes.

Selectmen also questioned Quint on whether the school’s section in the annual town report would include the names and salaries of teachers.

Quint said the school section would include a listing of the salaries and numbers of teachers at each pay level with no names.

Campbell noted that Minot, like most towns, traditionally has published names and salaries of public employees in annual town reports.

Selectman Dan Callahan noted that this was simply public information.

“It’s just reporting to the people who pay the salaries. Townspeople have a right to know; they’re the boss,” he said.

In other business, selectmen named Jeffrey Peterson and Carolyn Hricko as winners of this year’s Leonard Simion/Elsa Simion Fortin scholarships and awarded the Arthur E. Harris scholarship to Peterson.

Town Clerk Nikki Verrill announced that absentee ballots for March’s municipal election will be available at the town office beginning Friday, Feb. 3.

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