Colfax school district holds dedication ceremony for referendum projects

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX —  The $7.2 million in referendum projects for the Colfax school district began in the late fall of 2015 with discussions of space needs and concluded with a dedication ceremony October 16.

Members of the community, the Colfax Board of Education and the steering committee for the referendum as well as members of the administration and staff gathered in the newly remodeled lobby area at Colfax high school for the dedication and to take a tour of school building and the new bus maintenance garage.

Construction started in April on the projects that included moving the high school office from the middle of the building to the east side by the parking lot, remodeling the lobby by the gymnasium, which included moving the concession stand, building an addition onto Colfax Elementary, replacing some sections of the roof that were 30 years old, upgrades to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, remodeling of the high school shop area and building the bus maintenance garage.

Also included in the referendum dollars approved by taxpayers were six new liquid propane buses, improvements to the Science Technology Engineering and Math program (STEM) and paying off the school district’s unfunded pension liability.

“We were on a very tight time schedule. Market & Johnson assured me they could come through and have this place ready to open the doors before the beginning of the school year,” said Bill Yingst, school district administrator.

“They came through with flying colors,” he said.

Jason Plante, vice president and director of business development at Market and Johnson, Justin Geissler, project manager with Market & Johnson, and Mike Brantner, job superintendent with Market & Johnson, also attended the dedication ceremony.

“It’s been quite a process. These guys are A+ in my book. They know how to run a project and make sure things are done right … we had four or five Colfax residents and natives working here throughout the summer doing masonry work and other jobs, Yingst said.

Yingst recognized Jeremy Seehaver as one of the local residents working on the school district construction projects.

Tom Twohig of SDS Architects was the lead architect on the project.

“All of these organizations were great to work with over the last year. They did a great job of listening to the needs of the district and finding cost-efficient ways to meet our needs,” Yingst said.

“During my time here, I have been impressed with the support and commitment and the value this community places on education. This is evident in looking at the wonderful buildings and projects we have here today and your commitment to the students of the district has been tremendous,” he said.

Facilities study

The process for the $7.2 million referendum started in December of 2015 with a facilities study and survey.

“I was not sure where all of this would take us. As a district, I knew we had some facility needs to be addressed and that we had to gather information regarding those problems and the best way to address them,” Yingst said.

“Upon completion of the study and looking at various options, a decision was made to create a steering committee of various district residents to help the district plan for how to address our problems going forward. This group met over the summer of 2016 and recommended a plan that would eventually become the basis for the November 2016 referendum,” he said.

About 30 community members served on the steering committee.

Dr. Lee Bjurquist, retired school district administrator, served as chair of the steering committee.

The steering committee “was a group of individuals who volunteered their time to attend meetings about the deficiencies in our school district facilities and to have tough, but honest conversations about what the future of the district should look like. They had the difficulty of balancing what they individually wanted and what was affordable and made sense to the taxpayers. Their direction was instrumental in getting us to where we are today,” Yingst said.

Some members of the steering committee believed the referendum should have been a two-part question that included an auditorium for the high school and air conditioning throughout the building.

The referendum held in November of 2016 was approved with 70 percent voting in favor and 30 percent voting against.

“In spite of the satisfaction of passing a referendum, the real work began with the design, and later on, construction of the project,” Yingst said.

“Now that the project is over, I have spent some time reflecting on this journey. And over the past year and a half, I’ve learned about many aspects of construction, design and many other facets of this type of project. And many days, this has been a labor of love for me,” he said.

“The taxpayers of this community have invested in our future by providing a quality facility in which we can educate children,” he added.

Yingst said he was appreciative, too, of the school district’s custodial staff who worked hard over the summer to move school administrators and administrative staff out of their offices into temporary quarters, move them back to their new offices and to generally make the school ready for students when school started September 1.

Safety and security

A portion of the referendum money was devoted to improving safety and security at the high school and the elementary school.

“Many of the projects we completed deal directly with safety and security. As you look at our vestibule and our doors, the windows (along the east side of the lobby) used be a whole bank of doors. Now everyone must come through one set of door, they have to be buzzed into the office, go in and check in with Mrs. (Jan) Fehr and then she lets them come into the school,” Yingst said.

“If you will remember in the past, the office was in the center of the building and when people were buzzed in after the doors were locked, there was nothing saying people had to go directly to the office. Now they have to go through a process,” he said.

“We did the same thing in the elementary. We expanded the vestibule, and now people have to be buzzed in and go straight into the elementary office rather than anywhere in the building,” Yingst said.

“It might sound funny to some of you, and it’s unfortunate we have to think that way in this day and age, but school safety and security is a serious topic, and it’s something I take seriously. We are charged with having our students safe, number one, every day … although there is not a 100 percent guarantee on safety, we are taking the steps and controlling everything we can control and make our schools as safe as possible,” he said.

“We will continue to work to ensure that we are good stewards of the taxpayer dollars, and for your support, I am forever grateful,” Yingst said.

The dedication ceremony and open house included a tour of the new high school office, the work room, the new conference room, the elementary addition to replace the temporary classrooms, the high school tech-ed shop and the new bus maintenance building.