(VIDEO) Council Gives Approval of New Diman Construction; Voters Still to Weigh In

The Fall River City Council voted 6-3 last night for the city to move ahead in support of constructing a new DIman Regional Vocational Technical High School. Approval, and an option to pay for it, will now go before city voters.

At the council’s finance committee meeting, Diman officials provided details of the $293 million dollar school, the $145 million in state aid, and the $193 million Fall River will need to raise for its portion of the project. Diman Superintendent/Director Dr. Elvio Ferreira says the current building on Stonehaven Road is over 50 years old and in need of major repairs.  He says now is the perfect time to invest in students and build a new Diman.

City Councilor Shawn Cadime says he is in favor of building a new Diman, continuing a commitment to provide the best educational environment for all city students.

City Council President Pam Laliberte Lebeau was one of the three councilors to vote no. Her reasoning was not that Diman does not need a new facility, but that the administration has not given clear direction as to how it plans to pay for it.

The next phase in the approval of the new school will involve city voters. Because of the large price tag for the project, city ordinances call for voters to approve any debt that is more than $5 million.

Mayor Paul Coogan says that is the direction the city will go, with details of a referendum still to be worked out by the city’s elections office and officials at Diman. The mayor also gave an indication of how he plans to pay for the new school…asking the voters to approve a debt exclusion.

The mayor says he would like to see the approval of the new Diman and the debt exclusion question included on the same ballot.

Many councilors, including some of those who voted to approve the Diman proposal, have reservations as to whether another debt exclusion for a new school will be tolerated by taxpayers. Beginning next year taxpayers will begin paying more in taxes to pay for the construction of the new BMC Durfee High School. Voters approved that debt exclusion back in 2018.