Granby Finance Committee Backs Disputed West Street School Fund Transfer

GRANBY — May 29, 2025 — Granby Finance Committee recommends restarting West Street School renovation planning over one dissenting vote. The committee voted at its May 29 meeting to recommend three articles for a special town meeting, with the most contested — Article 2 — authorizing a transfer of funds from a West Street demolition and remediation account into a renovation account, giving a building committee roughly $5.5 million to assess whether a partial, bare-bones conversion of the 1941 building into town offices is feasible. One member argued the town had already effectively voted to demolish the building when it rejected a $15 million full-renovation plan and said investing further in an asbestos-containing structure was "a bad investment." A second member countered that the article returned the project to its original scope — not a circumvention of prior votes. The committee also unanimously recommended Article 3, replacing rent payments for the town annex at 215 West State Street with a driveway paving project estimated at $37,000 to $40,000, saving the town an estimated $35,000 or more compared to 18 months of cash rent at $4,400 per month, and Article 1, a roughly $25,000 stabilization fund transfer to cover unpaid fire ambulance department bills from fiscal year 2024.