“This is exactly what the ….

“This is exactly what the voters asked for,” said board member John Zuleger in support of sending the project to voters for their approval. He noted that the message from the previous referendum was to cut down on what the public perceived as being extras and focus on priority needs.

Board president Dave Fleegel said he did not think that it was in the district’s best interest to delay sending it to voters noting that the more delays there are, the higher the project costs will be due to inflation.

Representatives from engineering and architectural firms Findorff and Plunkett Raysich Architects (PRA) were at Monday’s meeting to review the proposed project plans and review the changes made since the November meeting. At that meeting, Zuleger had questioned the size of the proposed parking lot in the front of the building calling for it to be drastically reduced. In addition, discussion had focused on the planned renovation of the locker rooms which are original to the 1968 building. Concern was raised about the lack of a girl’s team locker room while there was a boy’s team room.

At Monday’s meeting Steve Kieckhafer of PRA presented a plan which called for adding 30 parking spaces to the front of the building as part of a plan to reconfigure the driveways to eliminate an entrance onto Hwy 64. The number of stalls replaces those lost in the rear of the building with the planned addition of technology education classrooms. Previous plans had called for more than 160 new parking stalls.

Joe Schuchardt of Findorff explained this shaved about $300,000 from the project. When Zuleger noted that the projected price was about the same as presented last month, the designers explained this partly offset the additional cost of doing a complete remodel of both the boys and girls locker rooms to reconfigure the space to include both boys and girls team locker rooms as well as redoing the main locker room spaces.

While one option had looked to turn a space on the main level into a team room, building principal Jill Lybert said this would present concerns for supervision and possible disruption of adjoining classrooms.

Kieckhafer said they recommended reconfiguring the footprint of the existing locker rooms spaces. “There is space within the girls locker room to utilize in a different way,” he said. The major change will occur in the shower area which is currently a large communal room which is not heavily used. It will be replaced with a smaller shower space with additional privacy in both the boys and girls sides.

District administrator Pat Sullivan explained that in place of being able to have 20 kids showering at one time, they would have three or four at a time, which is closer to the actual usage.

Board member Brian Hallgren supported creating additional equity between the boys and girls locker rooms noting that it was overdo to happen.

Sullivan advised the board that they needed to make a decision on holding a possible referendum this month so that for the January meeting they can have the legal referendum language ready for approval. He said there would only be a few days between the scheduled January board meeting and when the referendum language would have to be approved to be put on the ballots. State law limits school boards’ ability to seek referendum to once per year.

During the finance committee meeting prior to the school board meeting, finance director Audra Brooks projected the potential cost to taxpayers of the referendum.

She said the estimated impact based on the amount projected at the November board meeting, was $0.92 per $1,000 of equalized value, or about $92 per year on a $100,000 home. “This is using a very conservative estimate of 3.5% interest rate,” Brooks said. While interest rates vary based on the market conditions at the time they are put out for bids, governmental interest rates have averaged below half that amount. A lower interest rate would save money for taxpayers.

With the school district’s current tax rate of $6.07 per $1,000 of equalized value, if the referendum passed the rate being paid by area taxpayers would still be significantly lower than the previous district tax rates due to the advanced payment of previous debt.

In other business, board members:

_ Approved a resolution giving Sullivan and board president Dave Fleegel the authority to sign documents to apply for a FEMA grant for a storm shelter structure at the high school. The district is seeking federal emergency response grant funds for the structure which will be able to hold about 2,000 people in a space roughly equal in size to the high school gym. The deadline for applying for the grant is January 14 with announcement in June 2022 if they make it through the first round of consideration. It would then be between December 2022 and May 2023 for the final grant awards to be made. The federal grant covers 75% of the eligible costs of the structure with the primary purpose being to provide a space for storm shelter for a population within about a half mile radius including the number of people on the school grounds. The rough figures projected about a $6 million overall cost of the project with the grant paying $4 million and the school district raising about $2 million through community donations. Sullivan reported that the Memorial Member Association has pledged $500,000 with Forward Bank pledging $50,000 and Nicolet Bank pledging $25,000 along with $5,000 from a local individual. Having pledges in place helps with the grant application. There is no fiscal obligation in applying for the grant with the district being able to turn it down in the future up to the time construction begins.

_ Approved spending $260,048 from the district’s food service fund balance account for food service equipment upgrades in all of the district schools. According to Brooks, the food service account has a balance of about $773,000. State regulations restrict how that money can be spent as well as limiting the amount that can be held in fund balance. Buildings and grounds supervisor Dave Makovsky explained that much of this equipment is original to each of the buildings and has been repaired numerous times in the past or purchased used from other school districts. It was noted that the serving counters at the high school would be configured to be reused in any future remodel of the cafeteria as part of the proposed referendum. Makovsky said the plan is to order the equipment now before an 8% price increase goes into effect at the beginning of the year. The actual delivery and installation would take place next summer.

_ Approved using a portion of the supplemental school aid funds released by Gov. Tony Evers for onetime bonuses of $250 to school staff members. The district using the bulk of the funds received to purchase updated science and math curriculum materials at a cost of about $177,000. Hallgren proposed using the remaining $100,000 for staff bonuses for the approximately 400 employees in the district. “Our staff has been through a hellish two years,” Hallgren said, noting that he felt it was an ideal time and an ideal situation to give the bonus to show their appreciation for the work of all staff members in the district. “I think the general concept is very good,” Everhard said.

_ Approved increasing the maximum enrollment at the Rural Virtual Academy by 300 students from 1,800 to 2,100. According to RVA principal Sara Holewinski, the increase will be made at the high school level with that accounting for 210 students and special education across all grade levels taking the remaining. She noted that these were the highest numbers on the current waiting list for students seeking to transfer into the RVA. “There are a couple hundred students on the waiting list,” she said.

KEY

ADDITION LEVEL I RENOVATION LEVEL II / LEVEL III RENOVATION PLAN NOT TO SCALE NORTH This drawing shows the areas that will be either remodeled or added as part of the $29.9 million project. The Medford school board on Monday voted to send the project to voters for approval on the April ballot.