New vote for project

FORT RECOVERY — The voters gave administrators and board members for Fort Recovery Schools a clear mandate.
So a year later they have come back with a vastly different plan.
After rejecting last year a plan to build a new high school building adjacent to the current elementary/middle school, Fort Recovery residents will vote Tuesday on a $3.4 million bond issue that would raise money to renovate the current high school building.
The bond issue a year ago was a 4.4 mill levy that was expected to generate $5.34 million through taxes with another $5.52 million provided by the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC). But voters rejected that proposal by nearly a 2-to-1 margin — 1,013-516.
“Probably the most common thing in there was that people just wanted to keep the high school building,” said board president Dave Hull of feedback from a survey sent to residents following the vote. “They just didn’t want to add on the elementary/middle school. And there were a lot of reasons.
“So we just felt like it was a pretty strong message. The public just wasn’t going to be behind moving to the other location.”
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Said first-year superintendent Shelly Vaughn: “That was hard, because the board felt like that was the best long-term solution. But knowing that the public’s not going to support it, it’s not the best solution.”
So board members and administrators, with the help of Minster architectural firm Garmann/Miller and local contractors, reviewed high school renovation plans previously made in conjunction with the OSFC. They broke them down into three phases, one of which would be covered by the pending bond issue.
About two-thirds of the money raised with the proposed 2.7-mill levy, which is expected to cost $82.69 in taxes for a $100,000 home, would go toward replacing the school’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. Parts of the current boiler system are 50 years old, and the school system has spent more than $44,000 on upkeep in the last three years alone.
Vaughn noted air quality in the school is also a major issue.
“If we’re going to be committed to staying at that high school for 30 or 40 years, we have to do this,” said Hull. “The heating and ventilation system at the high school is just in awful shape.
“There will be a time when we won’t be able to control the decision making. The circumstances will control the decision making.
“We want to be ahead of the 8-ball.”
The project would also include replacement of the roof and plumbing in some portions of the building, new fire alarms, a new phone system, replacement of the walk-in freezer and the addition of interactive white boards in every classroom.
The 1935 portion of the building, which currently houses the weight room (former gym) and four classrooms, would be demolished.
“It’s simply not cost effective to renovate that,” said Vaughn. “It’s old. It’s very old.”
If the bond issue passes Tuesday, the project would be slated to begin after the conclusion of the 2011-12 school year. It would continue through the 2012-13 school year, with most of it to be completed by the end of the summer of 2013. There would be more minor construction during the 2013-14 school year, followed by the completion of the project with demolition of the 1935 section of the building during the summer of 2014.
A first phase of renovations is already underway thanks to Ohio House Bill 264. That measure allows schools to take out loans, $222,330 in this case, if they can show cost savings over time.
Vaughn said this phase of the project, which includes replacement of interior lighting in the high school and improvements to the lighting and HVAC filtration system and the elementary/middle school, is expected to pay for itself through cost savings in five years.
The third phase of the suggested OFCA improvements were those the board decided were either unnecessary or could either be postponed and completed later through the school’s regular capital improvement programs.
If the bond issue passes, the Fort Recovery Athletic Boosters have committed to a separate project to build an athletic building somewhere on the school grounds. That building, which would be similar to facilities at New Bremen and Celina, would house a new weight room.
The new athletic building would be funded through donations, not taxpayer dollars.
As Tuesday’s vote approaches both Vaughn and Hull said they have not seen much opposition to the proposal, especially compared to what they encountered a year ago.
“Some of the people who were highly opposed to the K-12 project … have jumped on board,” said Vaughn “That’s been a positive. …
“We just want people to vote, and we want people to be informed voters.”
Complete information about the project is available at www.frlevy.com.

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