Albion school district to send $39.9 capital project to voters on Dec. 17 for referendum
Photos by Tom Rivers: This slide was presented during the Board of Education meeting on Oct. 5 and shows the concept of turning the art foyer at the high school int a fitness center.
ALBION – The Board of Education voted this evening to send a $39.9 million project to the community for a public referendum on Dec. 17.
The board considered three different options for the capital project, with the options at33.4 million, $39.9 million and $47.3 million.
The district’s Finance Committee recommended the second option at $39.9 million, said John Kast, the board’s vice president and chairman of the Finance Committee.
The project will address many needs in the district, and Albion already has the local share set aside so no new local taxes will be needed.
Kast said the project will be 90.6 percent reimbursable in state aid.
Voting on the project will be from noon to 8 p.m. on Dec. 17. If voters back the project, it will go to a design phase that will need the State Department of Education’s approval before the project goes to bid. Construction could take place over three years.
The proposed project also includes work at all three school buildings as well as the bus garage. The price in the three options varied depending on the scope of work in the elementary school.
The new project includes some elements that were considered for the previous project, but were removed, Hunsinger said.
The project could include the following:
High School
- Renovate Ag, IT and wood shop – $6.1 million
- Greenhouse addition – $1 million
- Renovate LGI – $3 million
- Renovate counseling suite – $1.2 million
- Renovate art foyer into fitness center – $1.6 million
- Digital athletics/arts wall of fame – $200,000
- Replace areas of damaged roofing – $100,000
- Remediate sewer odor in athletics vestibule – $100,000
Middle School
The auditorium in the middle school would be renovated while preserving its Art Deco character.
- Renovate auditorium, including seating, lighting, rigging and sound – $7.5 million
- Replace areas of damaged roofing – $600,000
- Replace exterior window sills – $300,000
- Provide security film on at-grade windows – $200,000
Elementary School
The scope of work for new ventilation systems, cabinets and windows ranged from $6.2 million to $20.1 million depending on the three options. The Board wants to address A, B, J and I for full replacement at a cost of $12.1 million with the other sections to be considered in future capital projects.
- Replace east playground at $2 million
- Replace west playground surfacing at $800,000
- Renovate main entrance courtyard at $300,000, with $200,000 to add snow melt
- Provide security film on at-grade windows at $200,000
- Replace classroom ventilation system, adjacent cabinets and windows; replace classroom flooring, ceilings, caseworks, lighting and upgrade classroom toilet rooms wings A, B, J and I at a cost of $12.1 million. Doing all sections would have added about $8 million to the total.
Transportation building
- Replace trench drain in storage and service bays at $200,000
- Replace areas of damaged roofing, $30,000
The district worked with the Campus Construction firm to identify the scope of the project.
The cost estimates represent about a 21 percent increase from the current construction prices. Campus Construction is estimating a 7 percent price increase in construction each year. If the work is done in two to three years, the company is estimating a 21 percent escalation in construction costs
If the project is approved by the voters on Dec. 17, the district will shift $15 million into a capital reserve fund to pay the local share of the project. The district would take that as part of $30 million in undesignated funds, said Rick Recckio, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance.
He expects Albion would only need about $8 million of that $15 million to pay towards the local share of the capital project with Albion paying on the project over 10 years.
The project addresses top priorities identified through a building conditions survey that included input from building leaders in the district, said Mickey Edwards, the district superintendent.
The survey established a list of priorities ranked from 1 to 4. The final list includes the “priority 1’s,” he said.
“You never exhaust the list,” he said.
Albion is on a cycle of doing a capital project about every five years. Other issues identified in the building conditions survey but not in the final project could be considered again in about five years if the new project is approved by voters, Edwards said.
Board of Education member Chris Kinter has a possible project for the future. He wants to see a better way for parents to pick up and drop off their kids at the elementary school. He said cars often get stacked in a line on Clarendon Road that stretches out to East Avenue. He thinks more room for cars on the school campus would keep the line from going out on Clarendon Road and onto Route 31.
