Witt School remediation contract awarded
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Get ready for the sounds of progress—otherwise known as construction noise—to be heard at Hyde Park this summer. At a special meeting on June 11, 2026, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) —minus Tony Armelin—heard from Amber Wakley-Whaley, Stafford’s Director of grants and Community Engagement, and the driving force behind the Witt School rehabilitation. The responses to the Town’s request for proposals (RFP) are in, they’ve been evaluated by Weston and Sampson, the engineering and environmental firm on the project, and now the BOS has agreed on a contractor.
To recap, this part of the project is strictly about abatement. Getting rid of asbestos and other hazardous materials is the first step to reusing this mouldering building. Because the project is funded largely by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Town had to award the project to the lowest qualified bidder. That turned out to be KN Environmental, which bid $528,000 for the abatement portion of the project, and $15,000 for the removal of debris, for a total of $543,000.
The highest bid came in at $1.9 million according to Wakley-Whaley.
Weston and Sampson was charged with doing the due diligence on all seven of the bids, which included checking references. According to Wakley-Whaley, Weston and Sampson found that Kn Environmental is able to keep costs lower because it is a small company with less overhead. She also mentioned that though there was one complaint from about 14 years ago it had to do with a labor issue. The EPA is reportedly aware and signed off on the contractor anyway.
The abatement portion of this project is entirely grant funded, and those grants come with timelines. So, work is scheduled to get underway in July and has to be done by about September 15, 2026, as no more costs can be incurred under the EPA grant after September, 30.
The EPA awarded Stafford $650,000 as part of a Brownfields Cleanup Cooperative Agreement to pay for remediation activities at the Witt School. The grant includes a $130,000 cost share from the Town so the total budget for the project is $780,000. But, more recently, the Town also received $1.3 from the State of Connecticut’s Community Investment Fund (CIF). There’s also another $41,000 available from the Capitol Region Council of Government (CRCOG) evolving loan fund, according to Wakley-Whaley. In past meetings, Wakley,Whaley has mentioned the need to roof the building, ensuring that once it’s remediated it’s also weather tight.
Given that KN’s bid came in so low, the Town should have more than enough to complete the abatement without worrying about overages.
“Great job. I know we’ve said it a thousand times…” said Selectman Tim Cromwell, noting that while the project had moved slowly, there was also a time crunch in recent months to fill funding gaps and get the work done before the EPA grant expires. He also joked about having left a duffle bag behind while coaching in the Witt School many years ago, and asked if he could get it back—which prompted First Selectman Morrison to joke that it would cost $15,000 to get it back.
