11.10.2000 08:25
Voters virtually deadlock over breaking from Chariho
By ALEX KUFFNER
Journal Staff Writer
CHARLESTOWN
-- The town is virtually deadlocked over whether to withdraw from the Chariho Regional School District after mail-in ballots were counted late Wednesday.
The final result of the nonbinding referendum was 1,622 votes in favor of withdrawal and 1,617 opposed, according to state Board of Elections figures.
Mail-in ballots also determined the final two seats on the Town Council. Republican incumbents Lucy Hargraves and Pamela J. Holley were elected to the fourth and fifth seats, meaning for the fourth straight election, voters have chosen an all-Republican council. A Democrat last sat on the council in 1994.
Holley won the fifth seat with 1,545 votes, edging out Democrat Deborah Carney, who garnered 1,512 votes.
The figures from the state Board of Elections are the final ones, but they will not be official until the Board of Canvassers certifies them. If the figures are not challenged by 4 p.m. this coming Tuesday, they will be certified.
The close outcome of the school referendum leaves Charlestown without a clear course of action.
Because the question was nonbinding, the five-vote difference in favor of withdrawal does not mean Charlestown will leave the school district it shares with Hopkinton and Richmond.
"I'm afraid that a nonbinding referendum raises more questions than it answers, because it's a dress rehearsal for the real thing," said Karen L. Lytle, who was reelected to the council. "It was an opinion poll, and the opinion was mixed."
It is now up to the Town Council to determine the next step, according to Joseph Ungaro, head of the Budget Commission.
The Budget Commission has compiled a report that says it will cost the town $20 million to establish its own school system. The report also outlines the steps the town must take to pursue withdrawal.
Under the Chariho Act, the Town Council must first vote to withdraw. Another vote must take place at a Financial Town Meeting. If that vote supports withdrawal, an exit committee chaired by the state commissioner of education would work out how the town would leave the school district.
Only then would residents in all three towns be able to vote on the issue at a Chariho Financial District Meeting.
Lytle says she will recommend holding a binding referendum in Charlestown.
"People need to vote on this once and for all," she said.
Evelyn J. Smith, head of the local Democratic Party, said the issue cannot end with the nonbinding referendum.
"There is still a sizable amount of people who support withdrawing from Chariho," said Smith, who lost her bid for a seat on the Town Council. "[The Town Council needs] to figure out why those people objected. Is it mostly financial, or is it educational?"
But Chariho Supt. John Pini said the sharply divided vote gave the town no indication of what to do next.
"There's not a clear mandate either way, and I think that's the worst result," he said. "Either side on the issue can say there's no clear answer."
He said the school district will move ahead with its $55.1-million plan to build a new high school, renovate elementary schools, and transform part of the existing high school into a community elementary school.
Building Committee chairman Thomas Holberton will present the building plan to the district's three towns in early December.
He will meet with the Hopkinton Town Council Dec. 4 at 7 p.m., the Richmond Town Council Dec. 5 at 7 p.m., and the Charlestown Town Council Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. The meetings will take place at each town's town hall and will be open to the public.
At those meetings, Holberton will ask for each council's endorsement before seeking legislation to allow a referendum on the building plan in May or June of next year.
Holberton said he was worried that the result of the nonbinding referendum in Charlestown could signal trouble for the building plan when it is put to voters.
How that plan fares will depend on whether Charlestown's new Town Council decides to pursue withdrawal.
"That's going to be a very tough decision," Ungaro said.
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