Sean C. Morgan
The first estimate is in for the Sweet Home Junior High School remodel, and at $11 million, it’s bigger than the $8 million bond and grant that are supposed to fund it.
But school officials worked last week on ways to move forward with the project without increasing any tax rates. Business Manager Kevin Strong said that staff instead will actually recommend decreasing an unrelated tax levy next month when it releases its proposed 2018-19 operating budget.
Officials outlined the situation and the administrations proposed solutions to the School Board during its regular meeting Monday night, April 9.
Maintenance Supervisor Josh Darwood took the board through a brief history of the project. The School District last year asked voters to approve a $4 million bond levy to serve as a match for a $4 million grant from the state, giving the district a total of $8 million to remodel SHJH, fixing a number of problems and eliminating deteriorating out-buildings.
The bond also is funding hot water lines, security improvements and heating and air conditioning controls in buildings across the district.
Voters approved the measure 64 percent to 36 percent in May.
Working with gLAs Architects of Eugene, the district is planning numerous improvements at the Junior High, including a new office and secure front entrance.
“We are in a time of rapidly changing construction costs,” Darwood told the board, and the scope and cost of repairs, improvements and upgrades has increased a bit during the development process.
Among the features are a new extended parking lot, which became possible with the purchase of a neighboring property, and a separate bus loop. The entrance had been enhanced to include wood accents. The locker room was expanded from initial plans to meet the school’s needs, and a new auxiliary gym was bumped up to full size in the planning process.
An exterior corridor along the new gym was enclosed, and the size of the warming kitchen for the cafeteria was increased. The plan included additional storage, some technological upgrades for classrooms, upgrades to the fire suppression system, landscaping, moving the football field and improvements in the new art room and “makerspace.”
“We don’t have exact numbers yet, but the architecture firm has given us a price of where they see this project at,” Darwood said. Calculating it in-house, gLAs put the cost at $11 million.
Supt. Tom Yahraes wanted to know immediately what the estimate would be, Darwood said, so he texted Yahraes right away.
“So, where are we cutting?” came Yahraes’ reply, Darwood said.
Darwood believes that the soft costs in the estimate may be high, he said. For each line item in the estimate, 25 percent is added to estimate soft costs, such as architect fees and soil testing.
The district already knows some of those costs, such as the architect fees, Darwood said. Building fees are lower in Sweet Home than elsewhere. While he doesn’t know what they’ll be on this project, they’re likely to be lower than elsewhere.
The soft costs could be up to a million dollars less than the estimated $3 million, he said. Additionally, parts of the project could be cut. In some cases, his crew can do some of the work in house later, after the completion of the larger renovation.
In 2004, the School Board established a Long-Term Maintenance Fund, Darwood said. The fund has been built up to about $2 million, and he would like to see the district use about $1.5 million to help pay for the junior high project.
District officials have heard feedback about how important some of the features, like the full-size gym, are, he said.
“We don’t plan to remodel the Junior High again in our lifetimes. We want to make it the best we can.”
District officials don’t want to wipe out the Long-Term Maintenance Fund, Darwood said. They will propose in the 2018-19 budget next month maintaining at least $500,000 in the fund.
The board created the Long-Term Maintenance Fund in the wake of the 2001 bond, Strong said. The idea was that the district should be setting aside funds for major maintenance projects instead of seeking bond levies from taxpayers.
The district has used it that way since then, Strong said, and it’s been available to help take advantage of opportunities, such as the artificial turf at Husky Field.
With the bond levy, the matching grant from the state and $6 million in seismic project grants from the state, Strong said, the district has had some $14 million to work with without increasing the property tax rate. Those projects help reduce the need for long-term maintenance. As a result of the seismic projects, the High School auditorium has a new roof, and Hawthorne will have a new one next school year.
“With the Junior High, this is the chance to do it right and save money in the long run,” Strong said.
Strong found another source of money to help offset the higher estimate. By “prepaying callable portions” of the district’s Public Employees Retirement System pension bonds, the district has been able to save $327,000 in interest payments.
That’s a one-time savings that should be used on a one-time expense rather than sustained expenses, Strong said. He recommends using it on the Junior High project.
Board member Jason Van Eck agreed with most of the plan but said he did not agree with using the savings from the PERS bonds because PERS funding is unstable.
Strong said the district has budgeted its PERS contributions, and this savings is sitting in the General Fund.
With all of that, administrators are proposing to decrease the swimming pool local option levy from 32 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to 28 cents, Strong said. At 32 cents, it provides $230,000. The district needs just $202,000 to operate the district’s swimming pool, which was the reason the district requested the local option levy.
A decreasing level of property tax compression – tax revenue that government agencies may not collect because it exceeds constitutional property tax limits – has improved revenue in the levy, he said. “We’re thinking it’s the right thing to do – propose (a lower rate) next month. I won’d want to do more than what we said we would do.”
The proposals will appear as part of the proposed budget document next month, he said.
“The price is a fluctuating target to aim at,” Darwood said, so he asked the board to approve the use of the construction manager-general contractor model instead of the standard bidding model.
In that process, the contractor is involved in the design phase, allowing flexibility and the ability to withdraw portions of the project and make adjustments “on the fly” based on changing information and prices, Darwood said.
The board approved of the plans by consensus, with Van Eck objecting to the use of PERS interest savings. The board voted 6-0 to approve the construction manager-general contractor arrangement.
Strong said the district would send out a request for proposals from contractors this week.
Present at the meeting were Jim Gourley, Van Eck, Jason Redick, Mike Reynolds, Angela Clegg and Carol Babcock. Absent were Ben Emmert, Chanz Keeney and Debra Brown.
In other business, the board:
n Extended the superintendent’s contract to June 30, 2021, including a provision for raises based on the teachers’ contract in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
In 2019-20, it will be 3 percent, Yahraes said. He will move from $125,000 to $135,000 in 2018-19.
The contract moves the superintendent’s evaluation date from June to January and calls for an annual vote in March to extend the contract an additional year.
n Approved a policy to allow early entrance into kindergarten.
The district anticipates one family to apply for early admission, Yahraes said.
The deadline to apply will be May 1 this year. In the future it will be April 1.
The policy allows children to prove they have the capacity to enter kindergarten early through testing. Under the new policy they may enter early if their fifth birthday is before Nov. 30 of the year they start school.
n Approved the hiring of Robert Nelson, temporary language arts teacher at Sweet Home Junior High School, and Blakey Manley, natural resource teacher at Sweet Home High School.
n Accepted the resignation of SHHS Counselor Julie Harvey.
n Approved a computer purchase for career and technical education for $94,000 in Measure 98 funding. The program is approved by the state as part of the Industrial and Engineering Systems Career Cluster, with coursework emphasis in science, technology, engineering and math.
Students will develop, analyze and test product solutions through three-dimensional design and fabrication. Each work station will cost $1,889, with 30 29-inch monitors for $399 each and 12 24-inch monitors for $219 each.