By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — For two consecutive budget cycles, a new facilities project coordinator position has not made it into the proposal advanced by the Board of Education to the town.

Will the third time be the charm?

Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice’s $150.3 million recommended budget for 2025-26 includes the $132,867 position to help coordinate the school district’s capital projects workload expected to average $9 million a year over the next three fiscal years.

That compares to less than $1 million a year in 2023.

“It is a volume thing,” Scarice told school board members when they met on the budget last Thursday. “Not necessarily the cost, but the number of projects.”

The district has a facilities manager, who also serves as head of security. The office also has a full-time office coordinator and part-time secretary who splits time with the payroll department.

There are times, Scarice said, when he can’t reach Facilities Director Ted Hunyadi because he may be on the phone with Eversource arranging for a portable classroom hook up, or another task involved with managing school district facilities that encompass a total of 1.2 million square feet.

Scarice said he would prefer Hunyadi focus on big-picture rather than administrative-type tasks. “His role is being misused,” he said.

When Scarice recommended the facilities project coordinator position two years ago, it was eliminated by the school board. Last year, with uncertainty over ballooning health-care costs, Scarice left it off his proposal but included it this time.

The district uses Colliers Project Leaders as a construction consultant, but the firm does not coordinate work in the field. As the volume of district projects grows, there is a need to track Requests for Proposals, order equipment, and secure work orders and permits, the board was told.

“There is a need to prioritize urgent tasks,” Scarice said.

“Is it a sea change in terms of spending?” asked board Secretary Neil Phillips.

That and volume, he was told. With multiple projects going on at once, there needs to be one set of eyes on all of it, Scarice said.

In the spring and summer of 2024, the district completed 147 projects, Chief Financial Officer Elio Longo said.

Included on the list was a rebuilt centrifugal chiller at Bedford Middle School, a pool boiler room system upgrade at Staples High School, Phase 3 of Staples parking lot paving and Coleytown Elementary School playgrounds.

Board Vice Chair Dorie Hordon said she was confused over the distinction of responsibilities for the facilities director and project coordinator.

She was told it would be the director’s job to be proactive and identify district needs. The coordinator would coordinate execution of the identified work.

Hunyadi also supervises 55 custodians and eight in-house carpenters, electricians and maintenance staff.

The job of project coordinator would be a non-union position. The $132,867 cost includes salary and benefits.

Other than that new position, the proposed school facilities budget, including utilities, maintenance, supplies and equipment, would be 1.1 percent higher than this year, coming in at about $7.5 million.

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.