May 17, 2017 at 3:36 a.m.
SA settles on 2018 project scope
High School renovations are slated for completion next summer
SA settles on 2018 project scope
Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
BERNE — South Adams will get a chunk of its high school renovation project out of the way this summer.
The goal is to complete it in 2018.
South Adams School Board in a special meeting following a work session Tuesday gave superintendent Scott Litwiller the OK to move forward with getting quotes and drawings for the work slated for next year.
The board also hired principal Trent Lehman as its new boys basketball coach (see related story on page 10) and rescheduled its regular July meeting for 6 p.m. July 17.
Board members Arlene Amstutz, John Mann, Amy Orr, Landon Patterson and John Buckingham, with Julie Mansfield and Mitch Sprunger absent, agreed preliminarily on the scope of the 2018 work, though they could still modify their plans if costs or other circumstances change. That work is set to include completing the renovation of the media center, adding a canopy over the main entrance and renovating the remaining classrooms around the media center, which is estimated at a cost of $960,724 with an additional 50 percent of that total to be set aside for contingencies.
Litwiller also requested, and was granted permission by the board, to get cost estimates for renovating the health, conference, intense intervention and family and consumer science classrooms, as well as the current high school office. He had presented the board with an expansive list of potential projects for 2018 and beyond, recommending the slate of renovations for next year that the board adopted.
Other possible future big-ticket improvements, for which cost estimates were available, include new home bleachers and press box for the football field ($200,000 to $300,000), classroom projectors ($135,000), new lockers ($124,000), a new press box, concession stand and restrooms for the baseball field ($110,000) and new CATS cabling ($102,000).
Mann also advocated for expansion of the machine trades building, estimating that doubling its floor space would cost about $250,000.
The board had originally hoped to renovate the media center and all of the surrounding classrooms while also moving the main office to the northeast corner of the building in order to create a secure entrance this year. However, costs came in higher than expected, forcing the board to scale back the scope of this summer’s work. Now, the $1.7-million project, which will be paid for with money saved through bond refinancing, will include moving the high school office to the northeast corner of the school to create a secure entrance, renovating 10 classrooms, adding a new intercom system that will be tied into the elementary/middle school building and removing a mechanical closet from a classroom. Construction is slated to begin following the final day of school Friday and be substantially complete by Aug. 7.
While approving the scope of the 2018 school renovations, the school board did not make a decision on how they will be funded.
Litwiller offered four possibilities:
•Taking out $2 million in bonds.
•Utilizing the $445,148 from the recent sale of the former elementary school property and bonding for $1 million.
•Tapping into the rainy day fund for $647,051 and using $259,801 in funds no longer needed for the energy savings program, about $125,000 in already encumbered capital projects dollars and the money from the former elementary school property sale.
•Selling a portion of the school farm ($400,000), tapping into the rainy day fund for $247,051 and using the energy savings, capital projects and former elementary school sources.
Opinions varied on the best path forward, with Mann saying he is absolutely against raising taxes via bonding. Depending on how the bond is structured, it could add between 4.5 and 9 cents to the tax rate per $100 of assessed value.
Amstutz also questioned the wisdom of paying an estimated $400,000 in interest in addition to about $100,000 in costs in order to bring in $1 or $2 million with the bonding option.
Meanwhile, agriculture teacher Jason Shuck asked the board not to sell part of the school farm, which is used by FFA students both for educational purposes and to raise money for the program. Six members of the public, including four students, also asked the board not to sell the property because of its importance and impact on students interested in agriculture.
All Rights Reserved
BERNE — South Adams will get a chunk of its high school renovation project out of the way this summer.
The goal is to complete it in 2018.
South Adams School Board in a special meeting following a work session Tuesday gave superintendent Scott Litwiller the OK to move forward with getting quotes and drawings for the work slated for next year.
The board also hired principal Trent Lehman as its new boys basketball coach (see related story on page 10) and rescheduled its regular July meeting for 6 p.m. July 17.
Board members Arlene Amstutz, John Mann, Amy Orr, Landon Patterson and John Buckingham, with Julie Mansfield and Mitch Sprunger absent, agreed preliminarily on the scope of the 2018 work, though they could still modify their plans if costs or other circumstances change. That work is set to include completing the renovation of the media center, adding a canopy over the main entrance and renovating the remaining classrooms around the media center, which is estimated at a cost of $960,724 with an additional 50 percent of that total to be set aside for contingencies.
Litwiller also requested, and was granted permission by the board, to get cost estimates for renovating the health, conference, intense intervention and family and consumer science classrooms, as well as the current high school office. He had presented the board with an expansive list of potential projects for 2018 and beyond, recommending the slate of renovations for next year that the board adopted.
Other possible future big-ticket improvements, for which cost estimates were available, include new home bleachers and press box for the football field ($200,000 to $300,000), classroom projectors ($135,000), new lockers ($124,000), a new press box, concession stand and restrooms for the baseball field ($110,000) and new CATS cabling ($102,000).
Mann also advocated for expansion of the machine trades building, estimating that doubling its floor space would cost about $250,000.
The board had originally hoped to renovate the media center and all of the surrounding classrooms while also moving the main office to the northeast corner of the building in order to create a secure entrance this year. However, costs came in higher than expected, forcing the board to scale back the scope of this summer’s work. Now, the $1.7-million project, which will be paid for with money saved through bond refinancing, will include moving the high school office to the northeast corner of the school to create a secure entrance, renovating 10 classrooms, adding a new intercom system that will be tied into the elementary/middle school building and removing a mechanical closet from a classroom. Construction is slated to begin following the final day of school Friday and be substantially complete by Aug. 7.
While approving the scope of the 2018 school renovations, the school board did not make a decision on how they will be funded.
Litwiller offered four possibilities:
•Taking out $2 million in bonds.
•Utilizing the $445,148 from the recent sale of the former elementary school property and bonding for $1 million.
•Tapping into the rainy day fund for $647,051 and using $259,801 in funds no longer needed for the energy savings program, about $125,000 in already encumbered capital projects dollars and the money from the former elementary school property sale.
•Selling a portion of the school farm ($400,000), tapping into the rainy day fund for $247,051 and using the energy savings, capital projects and former elementary school sources.
Opinions varied on the best path forward, with Mann saying he is absolutely against raising taxes via bonding. Depending on how the bond is structured, it could add between 4.5 and 9 cents to the tax rate per $100 of assessed value.
Amstutz also questioned the wisdom of paying an estimated $400,000 in interest in addition to about $100,000 in costs in order to bring in $1 or $2 million with the bonding option.
Meanwhile, agriculture teacher Jason Shuck asked the board not to sell part of the school farm, which is used by FFA students both for educational purposes and to raise money for the program. Six members of the public, including four students, also asked the board not to sell the property because of its importance and impact on students interested in agriculture.
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