By Bill Riccio, Jr.
Voice Editor

Sometimes you have to split the baby.

A compromise worked out between representatives of the City Council and Board of Education has kept alive a West Haven Community House program staying in a former city school.

Negotiators reached a tentative agreement Monday night where the Community House will pay the city $20,000 for use of the former Stiles School for its KinderCare Program. Of the rental, half will go to the “Blue and White…Up All Night” graduation celebration for the Class of 2010, and half will go to defray the costs of keeping the building open.

“Chairman Mark Palmieri came up with the compromise,” said Supt. of Schools Neil Cavallaro this week. “There was some concern by the members of the City Council that the costs were being borne by the taxpayers. This seemed like a reasonable agreement.”

The City Council will still have to approve the rental agreement at its meeting Monday. Negotiators for the council, Tracy Morrissey (D-9) and Nancy Rossi (D-7) gave their assurance they would push for passage, Cavallaro said.

The KinderCare program was given permission to use the Stiles Building by the Board of Education prior to the opening of the school year. It was closed when the Alternate II program of West Haven High School was moved back to the McDonough Plaza building. The $20,000 payment, also, was tentatively earmarked for the “Up all Night” event, subject to the approval of the council.

That approval has been held up for weeks, the latest tabling happening at the last City Council meeting Nov. 2. According to Morrissey, some members were concerned the agreement should be used to defray the cost of keeping the building open. Those costs are about $66,000.

“We’re just trying to look out for the taxpayer,” Morrissey said in an interview last week. “We don’t think the taxpayer should foot the whole bill.”

Originally, Cavallaro and the board wanted the entire money to go to the all-night celebration for the senior class, which costs a total of around $25,000. With the tough economy it was felt the fundraising was going to be more difficult this year than in past years, and this would be a good way to use the money.

“We have to pay the money for the building to heat it anyway,” Cavallaro said last week. “The heat has to go on and the grass has to be cut. These are all in the budget until the building reverts back to the city.”

Reversion to the city takes place next year.

Cavallaro, meanwhile, defended the original rental agreement, making an analogy to a group renting a city facility.

“I equate it to a group wanting to rent the pool for a couple hours. We might charge them $200 for rental, but that rental might pay for the lights or the heat, but it won’t pay for both, and it won’t pay for the chlorine or the filtration or anything else. If we actually rented facilities for the actual cost, nobody could afford it. It’s the same with the use of a building by an agency that is involved in helping our own city’s kids. They could never afford the actual costs,” he said.

With the compromise, the senior class will have to do some fundraising, but will get a big boost toward the total cost, and the city will get a partial payment toward keeping the building open.

“With a new budget cycle next year, I think the city and the board could come up with a plan that can keep the program in Stiles once the city gets control of it. Right now, this seemed like the best way to get this matter off the table,” said Cavallaro.