It's been a year and nearly 3 months since you as our voters approved a $7 million bond initiative. The board met yesterday (July 10) and approved the final scope of work and approved the final bidders.
Most noteworthy are the 'bid alternates' that we considered. The board approved adding the following alternates: the locker rooms, furred walls in the gym, and a window to the new classroom wing at the end of the hallway to match the other wing. With these changes, the project scope of work is complete except for a final decision on how to best handle water mitigation. We should have this in the coming days. The locker room was the hardest (and will be the most controversial) decision. The locker room was always part of the plan and only was really "on the chopping block" when we thought financially we couldn't make it happen. During the bonding process, we talked about this being an option. Aside from the bonding funds, our capital projects budget is in good shape and the board still has a desire to do projects around the rest of campus to continue improving our entire campus--so stay tuned here. As I've noted multiple times since we've begun this process, it really isn't easy because there is so much work that needs to take place and a limited amount of funding. SM Wilson let us know yesterday that there will be movement in the next few weeks of more construction trailers and activity. So---be ready to see some action! Busy day for me so I will sign-off, but wanted to update our community on the work of the board! As always, don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions! Craig
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Okay, bear with me. Lots to report on! I'm going not report chronologically, but here goes my take on what's happening at the school board level that you need to know.
First, the district had its groundbreaking ceremony on June 19th. This was so much fun! I will admit that the only reason it was fun and had a cool "buzz" to it is because the primary students who watched and participated in the groundbreaking stole the show! I hope you've gotten to see the photos on Facebook and various district newsletters. This was an important point for the district. In an effort to keep things moving, we held a special board meeting on July 1st to select and approve the various bids for the project. We are still negotiating final terms on the "GMP" (Guarnateed Maximum Price) and we may need a special board meeting next week to give the final "okay." Now: how did the bidding go? In short, pretty good! What was presented to us were recommended bids for $6,453,678 which includes all architectural, construction, contingency fees. You will recall we budgeted $7.2 million for this work. We will be constructing an 8-wing classroom, FEMA-rated storm shelter, and full size gymnasium. The board discussed several "alternates" which ranged from windows to sports netting. In the end, we didn't make final decisions here but we reached consensus that adding the "furred N/S gym walls" would be a priority for safety. Additionally, doing some sort of work with storm drains underground for water issues was agreed upon. This may look like the bid presented ($52,888) but may be an alternative option. We also left open the idea of adding the locker room addition. The locker room full cost was $487,261. We did not make a decision here, but will need to in the next month or so. So, using round numbers, if we do the locker room, that leaves around ~$100,000 for other repair projects. We recognize that there is probably a need in the next 5-10 years for this locker room and that it adds value, but we have to weigh its value verses the value of other items, when funds (rightfully so) are limited. What are other priority projects this $500,000 could go towards. The list is long: roof replacement of high school ($300-400k estimated), track improvements ($500K+), security systems, improved PA systems, improved travel through and across the campuses. We are moving along! This is tough, tedious, and work that isn't easy. The entire board is very cognizant that this is being paid for by the hard-earned funds by our district patrons and nobody is taking it lightly. I'm happy to answer any questions or walk through how we got here. Going backwards--June's meeting (June 21st) was productive! We approved the budget for the year that began on July 1st. The full budget book is here. However, pages 1-8 are the most helpful to the non-accounting folk. We are projected to end this new year with a budget surplus of 32.82% of our budget or about $4.1 million. The year-to-year budget has a (projected) surplus of $508,263. The budget we approved added $1,000 to the base of the salary schedule for each teacher and we funded each step if teachers added additional education. Employees of the district who are not certified teachers will also receive 3.8% raise. I feel good about where we are at one-year from making the decision to take the custodial/maintenance services back in-house. There are challenges here: retaining folks---but I reports are that the buildings were cleaner, staff was more responsive, and overall that satisfaction was good. On the agenda for June---but approved on July 1st's special meeting was an expense to purchase new cameras and install on each of the buses. The old systems were obsolete and of poor quality. This significant purchase ($40,000) will be important to the continued safety of our children who ride our buses. Having made a final bus-lease payment last year, this purchase was approved with funds previously used on those leases. Lastly, I have made it my mission to try to get a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) to apply for our district to fill a retirement that we had. SLPs are becoming harder to come by and help our children with IEPs/504s. There are other methods of these children receiving services that are less desirable if we don't get an SLP to fill the position we may have to approve. If you know an SLP, please encourage them to apply ASAP. Thanks for hanging in there on this longer-than-average post. Have a wonderful July! Until next time, Craig |
AuthorHallsville resident. Foster Parent. School board member. Politico. Jesus Follower. Cardinals Fan #MizzouMade Archives
June 2020
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