School Board looks at construction options

LAUREL — Members of the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Board are looking at possibly putting another bond issue before voters later this year, about six months after voters rejected a $23 million bond issue.

At last week’s meeting, the board met with Supt. Jeremy Christiansen and some of its engineering and financial partners to go over a base plan and a future plan for what a middle school addition might cost if the district ever decides to move all of its offerings to the Laurel campus.

Christiansen said the board has had an ongoing conversation about their building issues since voters rejected the November 2020 bond issue, and while the need is still there, the costs have gone up.

“It was an opportunity for us to look at the overall project and it was a realization that, in a year’s time, the costs have increased due to higher interest rates, higher commodity prices and the costs of lumber and steel going up,” he said after the meeting. “We still have a need for our facilities and the board wants to move forward, and it’s a matter of what’s the best way to respond to what patrons were concerned about.”

A community survey was done by the school after the failure of the bond issue, and a lot of the concerns were centered around the cost and the long-term debt.

“When you’re looking at a bond issue that lasts 25 years, you’re looking at another generation that’s going to be responsible for that debt, and our patrons are concerned about this,” Christiansen said.

The board went over a number of financial options for the base plan, which includes the addition of classroom space in the elementary area and a complete teardown of the 1922 building with new space constructed in its place.

According to figures presented at Monday’s board meeting, the per-square foot cost for the proposed construction would be over $25.5 million, or about $302.99 per square foot, a 3 percent increase over the $293.92 cost that voters rejected.

Chief among the culprits in the cost difference are record prices for essential items such as lumber, steel, copper and PVC piping, which are either at or near all-time highs.

Fortunately, Christiansen said, the district does have some options it can utilize to lower the amount they would be asking voters to approve if they decide to go ahead with a resolution that could be voted on as early as the board’s May 10 meeting.

The board appeared most interested in utilizing a lease-purchase agreement and pick one of the two parts of the project, either the elementary addition or the high school rebuild, increasing its special building fund levy from 5.8 cents to 9.2 cents and utilizing some of its nearly $2 million in cash on hand, then use the bond issue to pay for the other part of the project.

By doing this, the district could pay off a significant portion of the project in a shorter amount of time and then reduce the levy, Christiansen told the board.

Board member Carol Erwin said that some patrons in the district have suggested a pay-as-you-go model, which would take 20 years to complete and cost the district up to $50 million.

“I think that people think this is an option, and it’s clear that it’s not,” she said at Monday’s meeting.

Another project that was discussed was a possible addition to the east side of the building that would ultimately house the middle school campus.

A $3.1 million proposal was laid out before the board, but Christiansen was quick to point out the board has no intention of closing the Coleridge-based middle school and making the district a one-campus setup.

“In November, we talked openly that the board has no interest or intent to consolidate the two campuses at this time,” Christiansen said. “Right now is not the right time and the factors aren’t aligned to indicate that’s a necessity. Our middle school campus (in Coleridge) is a valuable asset and our students are benefiting as a result of that.”

Christiansen said that patrons indicated a desire to know what the district’s plans were for the Coleridge campus.

“They want to know what IS the plan for the district, and if a future board would decide to consolidate the campuses, what might that look like,” he said. “What we really wanted to do is show that the board is working hard to identify what factors a future board might consider should they decide to consolidate the campuses — things like enrollment, fiscal resources, maintaining opportunities for our kids. That’s pretty groundbreaking for this board and it’s taken some time for them to get there, but it’s something they’d dedicated a lot of time studying and they want to talk with the community about how they’ll make that decision and what a middle school addition might look like when they do it.”

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