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Discussion continues amongst Board on facility improvements

By Kelsie Hoitomt

GLENWOOD CITY — For over an hour the members of the School Board discussed how they want to move forward with the improvements needed to the school’s facilities.

This discussion has been ongoing since a Community Task Force was created and a list of items to be improved was made which included; HVAC upgrade, relocation of offices, fire and building security, technology and safety regards to the softball field.

The consensus was that if the offices are to be relocated, that that be done first and then the upgrade to the HVAC system follow due to changes in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Either way, the cost for these projects is reaching into the $2-5 million range so the Board has been presented with three options: (1) to pose a referendum question asking for a revenue limit exemption to perform safety and operations improvement, (2) to use the energy-efficiency exemption to perform energy-saving improvements, or (3) some combination of the two.

It is Act 32 that gives schools the opportunity to do an energy efficiency exemption. This means the district could levy additional dollars for energy-related processes as long as the school works with a company that guarantees a savings. That savings then is passed along to residents via a subsequent reduction in the revenue limit.

The Board has been tasked with deciding how to move forward with the financials by choosing one of the three options.

The decision deadline is set for the November 10, which is the next scheduled Board Meeting.

It was emphasized that if enrollment numbers stay where they are and barring any significant changes in state aid or property values, the school could ask for a $5 million referendum with no increase in the mill rate, which in turn means no significant increase to taxpayer dollars.

As of right now, the mill rate for the District has actually gone down seven cents from what was projected at the annual meeting. Currently the mill rate is $10.02 with a tax levy of $2,178,532.

The tax levy was approved by the Board, which supports the proposed 2014-15 budget including general operations, debt service and community education.

In other business, the Board approved Jim Celt as a bus driver, Jolene Leduc as a parent volunteer, Shari Rosenow as a volunteer driver and Rebecca Draxler as a Destination Imagination volunteer.

They also approved the resignation of Pete Gaustad as the C-Team girls basketball coach. With this the Board also approved posting for the position of that coach as well as a C-Team boys coach and a seventh grade girls coach.

And lastly the Board approved a final reading of the revised policy 423-Student Enrollment as well as a revision to policy 723.3- Student Dismissal for Emergency Conditions.