July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
School project moves forward (12/21/04)
Cap of $26 million approved for project
School project moves forward (12/21/04)
By By Jennifer Wilmes-
The proposed renovation project at Jay County High School has been capped — at $26.6 million.
Jay School Board members voted 4-3 Monday to approve a resolution to set the maximum amount that can be spent on the proposed improvements.
Board members Mike Shannon, Brian Alexander and Frank Vormohr voted in favor of the resolution, and board members Mike Masters, Greg Wellman and Jay Halstead voted against the amount.
Board president Doug Inman, who voted in favor of the cap, broke the tie.
“We’ve gained enough input on this over the past several years. The needs are there. They are not going to go away. The easiest thing we can do is do nothing and put this off for the future and let another board handle it. I don’t want to do that as a board member,” Inman said after the board meeting Monday. “The $26.6 million. Am I comfortable with that? Not especially, but at the same time something needs to happen. I truly think that we will be able to come in well under that amount. But it needs to move forward so we can at least get the process rolling.”
Shannon also said he thought project bids would come in under the $26.6 million estimate.
Vormohr said he hoped bids were well below the proposed estimate. “These problems (at JCHS) are not going away,” he added.
Wellman said he voted against the resolution Monday because he was concerned about the needs of the other buildings in the district.
Halstead said that he was in favor of the project but would rather see the cap at about $20 million.
The board will now decide on the scope of the project at its Jan. 24 meeting and vote on issuing bonds to finance the projects at a public preliminary determination resolution hearing tentatively set for February.
Originally, board members planned to also vote on this resolution on Monday, but advertised in a revised legal notice about 10 days ago and voted Monday to postpone the vote.
JCHS tours will be held Tuesday, Jan. 4, at 8:30 a.m.; Wednesday, Jan. 4, at 7 p.m.; and Tuesday, Jan. 11, at 6:30 p.m.
This vote was made at the end of the pubic hearing which more than 200 people attended Monday in the commons at JCHS.
During the pubic hearing, 19 people spoke.
The first speaker was Dunkirk resident John Ireland.
“We have talked this meeting to death,” Ireland said about the more than an hour spent by school corporation officials and school board members discussing the history, educational needs, overview of costs and financial impact of the project before public comments were heard. “You’ve got things on (the list of projects) you don’t need ... I used to be a maintenance man. Where have you been? Repairs should have been made all along.”
Proposed projects include a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, an addition which includes a new swimming pool, auxiliary gym and locker rooms and remodeling projects to the school’s vocational area, existing pool area and parking lot.
As a result of these projects, there is also talk of moving the school corporation central office into the high school from its current East Arch Street location.
Kari Vilamaa of Barton, Coe, Vilamaa Architects and Engineers of Fort Wayne said Monday that no determination has been made on the improvement plans.
Project consultant Lonnie Theurber of Brock Theurber of Indianapolis discussed the potential financial impact.
“Nothing is firm. It will depend on interest rates on bonds sold and costs of materials,” Theurber said, adding that the bonds will likely be paid back in 20 or 25 years.
He added that the corporation could choose to repay the same amount each year or start with a lower payment that will increase over time.
Theurber also estimated that if the bonds are repaid on an increasing scale that the tax rate per $100 of assessed valuation would increase 17 cents. If the corporation repaid the same amount each year, the tax rate increase was estimated at 27 cents, Theurber said.
When rural Portland resident Ralph Guingrich approached the microphone Monday he laid a pile of papers at his feet which he said contained between 900 and 1,000 signatures from Jay County residents or taxpayers in favor of the board “scaling back the $26 million to a more realistic number that would benefit the greatest number of students and would be the least burdensome to taxpayers.”
This comment was met with applause from the audience.
Guingrich also asked Jay Schools business manager Brad DeRome how much debt the school corporation is currently carrying.
DeRome later reported that it currently has $12.2 million in debt through bonds. The corporation is allowed a maximum of $15 million in debt.
The school corporation also has a $23 million debt through a public holding company. The proposed improvement project would also be bonded through a public holding company.
JCHS vocational teacher and rural Portland farmer Bob Lyons said he can look at the issue from both sides as a taxpayer and a teacher.
Lyons said that he used to be proud to give people tours of the vocational area at the high school.
“An upgrade to me is new duct tape on the carpet in my room,” Lyons joked about the 30 year old carpet in his room.
“It’s time to make some changes ... If you want to invest in something for a year, plant corn. But if you want to invest in something that will last a long time, invest in education.”
Rural Portland farmer Ed Nixon also was in favor of renovating and updating equipment in the vocational areas.
“We can’t all sit behind a computer. Some of us have to do the work,” Nixon said.
Derek Rodgers said, “Farmers are conservative and older. They are going to slow you up (on the project), and they are going to foot the bill.”
Teresa Bowen, representing the JCHS swim team, said that the pool is no longer able to be fixed.
“You can renovate it, but we think it would make more sense to build a pool,” Bowen said.
JCHS boys swim coach Barry Weaver also spoke in favor of a new pool.
After the meeting Monday, Ron Krieg, director of facilities for Jay Schools, said that the pool could be renovated in its current location.
Also during the public session, former school board member and rural Redkey resident Ted Champ said that the pool renovations have been on hold, but he was not sure if a new pool was needed.
“The bottom line is that I built a house that I can afford. I would have liked a bigger house,” Champ said.
Costs for the HVAC, including units, piping, demolition, new ceilings, lighting and a geothermal addition was estimated at $8,650,000. A 69,320-square-foot addition, which includes a pool, auxiliary gym, lobby, corridors and locker rooms is expected to cost $8.7 million. Renovation projects include the addition of approximately 140 parking spaces for $180,000, moving the central office area for $450,000 and existing locker room renovations for $310,000.
Also, $2.3 million has been estimated for renovation work on the vocational area, and $1.1 million has been calculated for work on classrooms in the existing pool area.
The project total also includes an estimated $4,977,000 for legal costs, interest, vocational equipment, architect and construction manager fees.
These project cost estimates were submitted by Vilamaa and were discussed by the board at its Nov. 22 meeting.[[In-content Ad]]Albany resident Jeff Davis was named the new Westlawn Elementary School principal Monday night.
After Jay School Board members approved his hire, Davis said he is looking forward to beginning at Westlawn.
“I know how valuable our young children are ... I take (this appointment) as a great honor,” Davis said as he was leaving Monday’s meeting with his wife Leslie and two of his three sons.
Since 2001, Davis has been the assistant principal at Sutton Elementary School in Muncie. Before that, he spent almost 10 years as a teacher for grades one through three at Washington-Carver Elementary School in Muncie.
He received a master’s degree in 1999 from Ball State University and a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1992.
This appointment will be effective from Jan. 3, 2005 to June 30, 2007.
In other business, the board approved the hiring of Jane Martin as part-time instructional assistant at Jay County High School, Karla Munday as an instructional assistant at West Jay Middle School, Henry Kunkler as a corporation school bus driver, Dawn Evans as a special needs instructional assistant at JCHS and Karen Rose as a custodian at Bloomfield Elementary School.
Also Monday, the school board:
•Accepted resignations from General Shanks Elementary School instructional assistant Alice Carlock, East Jay Middle School custodian Bill Lawhorn and Redkey Elementary School instructional assistant Amy Steed.
•Approved leave requests for school district employees Karen Storie, Ron Krieg, Linda Aker, Erica Pluimer, Jennifer DeHoff and Rebecca May.
•Accepted extracurricular recommendations to hire Jennifer Crum as JCHS choir and swing choir director, Tracy Huelskamp as Bloomfield student council sponsor, Vicki Dunlap as Pennville Elementary School yearbook sponsor, Bethany Johnson as Westlawn Elementary School Just Say No Club sponsor and Teresa Kelly as the middle schools volunteer swim coach.
•Approved field trip requests for the JCHS ski club to travel to Mad River Mountain in Bellefountain, Ohio on several dates between Jan. 4 and March 31 and JCHS students to travel to Kings Island in Cincinnati, Ohio after the prom on April 24.
•Appointed Trent Paxson as the elementary level adoption and curriculum revision coordinator and Lee Newman as the coordinator at the secondary level.
Jay School Board members voted 4-3 Monday to approve a resolution to set the maximum amount that can be spent on the proposed improvements.
Board members Mike Shannon, Brian Alexander and Frank Vormohr voted in favor of the resolution, and board members Mike Masters, Greg Wellman and Jay Halstead voted against the amount.
Board president Doug Inman, who voted in favor of the cap, broke the tie.
“We’ve gained enough input on this over the past several years. The needs are there. They are not going to go away. The easiest thing we can do is do nothing and put this off for the future and let another board handle it. I don’t want to do that as a board member,” Inman said after the board meeting Monday. “The $26.6 million. Am I comfortable with that? Not especially, but at the same time something needs to happen. I truly think that we will be able to come in well under that amount. But it needs to move forward so we can at least get the process rolling.”
Shannon also said he thought project bids would come in under the $26.6 million estimate.
Vormohr said he hoped bids were well below the proposed estimate. “These problems (at JCHS) are not going away,” he added.
Wellman said he voted against the resolution Monday because he was concerned about the needs of the other buildings in the district.
Halstead said that he was in favor of the project but would rather see the cap at about $20 million.
The board will now decide on the scope of the project at its Jan. 24 meeting and vote on issuing bonds to finance the projects at a public preliminary determination resolution hearing tentatively set for February.
Originally, board members planned to also vote on this resolution on Monday, but advertised in a revised legal notice about 10 days ago and voted Monday to postpone the vote.
JCHS tours will be held Tuesday, Jan. 4, at 8:30 a.m.; Wednesday, Jan. 4, at 7 p.m.; and Tuesday, Jan. 11, at 6:30 p.m.
This vote was made at the end of the pubic hearing which more than 200 people attended Monday in the commons at JCHS.
During the pubic hearing, 19 people spoke.
The first speaker was Dunkirk resident John Ireland.
“We have talked this meeting to death,” Ireland said about the more than an hour spent by school corporation officials and school board members discussing the history, educational needs, overview of costs and financial impact of the project before public comments were heard. “You’ve got things on (the list of projects) you don’t need ... I used to be a maintenance man. Where have you been? Repairs should have been made all along.”
Proposed projects include a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, an addition which includes a new swimming pool, auxiliary gym and locker rooms and remodeling projects to the school’s vocational area, existing pool area and parking lot.
As a result of these projects, there is also talk of moving the school corporation central office into the high school from its current East Arch Street location.
Kari Vilamaa of Barton, Coe, Vilamaa Architects and Engineers of Fort Wayne said Monday that no determination has been made on the improvement plans.
Project consultant Lonnie Theurber of Brock Theurber of Indianapolis discussed the potential financial impact.
“Nothing is firm. It will depend on interest rates on bonds sold and costs of materials,” Theurber said, adding that the bonds will likely be paid back in 20 or 25 years.
He added that the corporation could choose to repay the same amount each year or start with a lower payment that will increase over time.
Theurber also estimated that if the bonds are repaid on an increasing scale that the tax rate per $100 of assessed valuation would increase 17 cents. If the corporation repaid the same amount each year, the tax rate increase was estimated at 27 cents, Theurber said.
When rural Portland resident Ralph Guingrich approached the microphone Monday he laid a pile of papers at his feet which he said contained between 900 and 1,000 signatures from Jay County residents or taxpayers in favor of the board “scaling back the $26 million to a more realistic number that would benefit the greatest number of students and would be the least burdensome to taxpayers.”
This comment was met with applause from the audience.
Guingrich also asked Jay Schools business manager Brad DeRome how much debt the school corporation is currently carrying.
DeRome later reported that it currently has $12.2 million in debt through bonds. The corporation is allowed a maximum of $15 million in debt.
The school corporation also has a $23 million debt through a public holding company. The proposed improvement project would also be bonded through a public holding company.
JCHS vocational teacher and rural Portland farmer Bob Lyons said he can look at the issue from both sides as a taxpayer and a teacher.
Lyons said that he used to be proud to give people tours of the vocational area at the high school.
“An upgrade to me is new duct tape on the carpet in my room,” Lyons joked about the 30 year old carpet in his room.
“It’s time to make some changes ... If you want to invest in something for a year, plant corn. But if you want to invest in something that will last a long time, invest in education.”
Rural Portland farmer Ed Nixon also was in favor of renovating and updating equipment in the vocational areas.
“We can’t all sit behind a computer. Some of us have to do the work,” Nixon said.
Derek Rodgers said, “Farmers are conservative and older. They are going to slow you up (on the project), and they are going to foot the bill.”
Teresa Bowen, representing the JCHS swim team, said that the pool is no longer able to be fixed.
“You can renovate it, but we think it would make more sense to build a pool,” Bowen said.
JCHS boys swim coach Barry Weaver also spoke in favor of a new pool.
After the meeting Monday, Ron Krieg, director of facilities for Jay Schools, said that the pool could be renovated in its current location.
Also during the public session, former school board member and rural Redkey resident Ted Champ said that the pool renovations have been on hold, but he was not sure if a new pool was needed.
“The bottom line is that I built a house that I can afford. I would have liked a bigger house,” Champ said.
Costs for the HVAC, including units, piping, demolition, new ceilings, lighting and a geothermal addition was estimated at $8,650,000. A 69,320-square-foot addition, which includes a pool, auxiliary gym, lobby, corridors and locker rooms is expected to cost $8.7 million. Renovation projects include the addition of approximately 140 parking spaces for $180,000, moving the central office area for $450,000 and existing locker room renovations for $310,000.
Also, $2.3 million has been estimated for renovation work on the vocational area, and $1.1 million has been calculated for work on classrooms in the existing pool area.
The project total also includes an estimated $4,977,000 for legal costs, interest, vocational equipment, architect and construction manager fees.
These project cost estimates were submitted by Vilamaa and were discussed by the board at its Nov. 22 meeting.[[In-content Ad]]Albany resident Jeff Davis was named the new Westlawn Elementary School principal Monday night.
After Jay School Board members approved his hire, Davis said he is looking forward to beginning at Westlawn.
“I know how valuable our young children are ... I take (this appointment) as a great honor,” Davis said as he was leaving Monday’s meeting with his wife Leslie and two of his three sons.
Since 2001, Davis has been the assistant principal at Sutton Elementary School in Muncie. Before that, he spent almost 10 years as a teacher for grades one through three at Washington-Carver Elementary School in Muncie.
He received a master’s degree in 1999 from Ball State University and a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1992.
This appointment will be effective from Jan. 3, 2005 to June 30, 2007.
In other business, the board approved the hiring of Jane Martin as part-time instructional assistant at Jay County High School, Karla Munday as an instructional assistant at West Jay Middle School, Henry Kunkler as a corporation school bus driver, Dawn Evans as a special needs instructional assistant at JCHS and Karen Rose as a custodian at Bloomfield Elementary School.
Also Monday, the school board:
•Accepted resignations from General Shanks Elementary School instructional assistant Alice Carlock, East Jay Middle School custodian Bill Lawhorn and Redkey Elementary School instructional assistant Amy Steed.
•Approved leave requests for school district employees Karen Storie, Ron Krieg, Linda Aker, Erica Pluimer, Jennifer DeHoff and Rebecca May.
•Accepted extracurricular recommendations to hire Jennifer Crum as JCHS choir and swing choir director, Tracy Huelskamp as Bloomfield student council sponsor, Vicki Dunlap as Pennville Elementary School yearbook sponsor, Bethany Johnson as Westlawn Elementary School Just Say No Club sponsor and Teresa Kelly as the middle schools volunteer swim coach.
•Approved field trip requests for the JCHS ski club to travel to Mad River Mountain in Bellefountain, Ohio on several dates between Jan. 4 and March 31 and JCHS students to travel to Kings Island in Cincinnati, Ohio after the prom on April 24.
•Appointed Trent Paxson as the elementary level adoption and curriculum revision coordinator and Lee Newman as the coordinator at the secondary level.
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
250 X 250 AD