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Haldane School District Will Postpone Public Vote on Capital Project
Petition requests feasibility study, two propositions on ballot
by Mike Turton
A public petition is part of a new twist that will result in another look being taken at the Haldane School District's proposed capital improvements project originally scheduled to be voted on as part of a May referendum. The District held its second public information meeting on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 to review the capital project and receive input from the public. The project calls for extensive repairs to the heating and ventilation system, roof and parapets, brickwork, storm water drainage, floors, electrical, plumbing and other works in the elementary and middle schools. Total cost of the project has been estimated in the eight million dollar range and the District has been working towards defining the final scope of the initiative.
At Tuesday's meeting a group of residents presented a petition to the District, signed by one hundred and fifty residents, asking that upgrades to the heating and ventilation systems be separated as one proposition in the May vote, with all other repairs appearing as a second proposition. The petition also requested that the District include $20,000 in the 2008-2009 operating budget to fund an engineering feasibility study that would include an assessment of switching to a geothermal heating system. The District had previously rejected geothermal and hot water systems, opting instead to stick with the current steam-based system. Upgrading that system would entail repairing or replacing both the existing boilers. In discussions at the February 26 meeting, residents who supported the petition also offered to raise the money required to fund the feasibility study.
The District called a special meeting two nights later on Thursday, February 28 to reconsider the capital project in light of the petition. Contacted after the meeting Superintendent of Education Mark Villanti said that "The board was impressed by the number of signatures on the petition - they felt that had to respect that effort."
While no formal vote was taken at the February 28 meeting, trustees reached a consensus on a number of key issues: the bond vote on the capital project will be put off until the fall, allowing time for completion of the feasibility study; one hundred thousand dollars will be added to the proposed 2008-2009 budget to fund crucial repairs that trustees feel cannot be postponed; detailed specifications for the feasibility study will be drawn up by John D'Angelo of the Fuller-D'Angelo architectural firm. It is estimated that the feasibility study will take approximately three months to complete and will compare the long-term, complete cost of ownership of the three heating systems. Trustees expressed concern that if the public does not raise adequate funds to cover the entire cost of the feasibility study, the District will be forced to pay the unfunded balance. Director of Operations Wayne Robinson indicated that a $20,000 estimate for the cost of the study was "optimistic" in his view. The exact cost will not be known until specifications are completed and the study is put out for bids but some estimates have put the cost at between thirty and fifty thousand dollars.
Also discussed at the meeting was the possibility of establishing an ongoing capital reserve fund which would allow the District to deal with capital improvements as they arise. The District currently does not have a capital reserve fund.
While the capital project bond vote will be postponed until fall, voters will still go to the polls in May to consider the proposed District 2008-2009 budget and to elect trustees.
The Haldane School District will continue discussions regarding the capital project at its regular monthly meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 4 and will formally pass resolutions required for the project, feasibility study and referendum at its February 18 workshop meeting.
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