Middle School Project Updates
by Greg Barnes
December 04, 2009
MIDDLE SCHOOL UPDATE
This article is dedicated to keeping the public informed of the events that have taken place relative to the new middle school project. I will try to keep it updated so patrons may follow progress. In the future you may click on the Superintendents link on the school's website to access the updates.
February 11, 2008 Regular Board Meeting:
The board approved a motion to hire DLR Architectural Firm to study the school districts facilities and report their findings to the board of education. Numerous meetings with faculty, staff, and a committee made up of administrators, board members, faculty, staff, and community members followed.
November 17, 2008 Special Board Meeting:
This special board meeting was called to invite the public to the High School Theater to review the facilities study and findings with representatives from DLR architectural firm.
March 4, 2009 Special Meeting (Board/Administrator Retreat):
The board of education formulated priorities for the upcoming school year and the following priority was approved relative to school facilities:
The board and administration will continue to address facilities needs.
A. The leadership team will continue the current process seeking community input on alternative plans for the Middle School.
B. The board will develop consensus on the direction for the Middle School by the end of the summer.
March 12 to March 30, 2009:
Superintendent Greg Barnes, administrators, and various board members held community meetings in Goehner, Bee, Staplehurst, Garland, and Ulysses to discuss the facilities study with patrons and receive input relative to facilities.
May 4 and May 7, 2009:
Patrons of the school district were invited to tour the middle school. Faculty, staff, and middle school students led the guided tours.
August 10, 2009 Regular Board Meeting:
The Seward Board of Education approved a resolution to proceed with the steps necessary to build a new middle school on a new site.
August 31, 2009 Special Board Meeting:
Rex Schultze of the Perry, Guthery, Haase & Gessford Law Firm of Lincoln discussed various topics relative to school construction.
September 14, 2009 Regular Board Meeting:
During the 5:30 study session of the school board, board members discussed many issues relative to the new middle school project. They reviewed board policies on construction, they discussed educational consultants, architect requests for letters of interest, visiting recently built middle schools, and construction delivery methods.
September 30, 2009 Special School Board Meeting:
On September 30, the Seward Board of Education met in special session to visit with two educational consulting firms. Both firms help school districts evaluate educational needs for new buildings and work with the architect and district to design a building that meets those educational needs.
The board listened to Gary Cooper from Educational Facility Planning and Management, LLC out of Omaha, and Jerry McCall of Educational Consulting Services out of Lincoln.
The board also approved a motion to authorize Superintendent Barnes and district legal counsel Rex Schultze to request letters of interest from architectural firms regarding the new middle school project.
October 12, 2009 Regular Board Meeting:
The Board of Education again discussed the new middle school project. There were concerns among board members so President Seaman took time to ask many questions and then asked board members for input.
The first question was relative to a bond election timeline. The consensus of the board was that they did not foresee being ready for the general election in May of 2010. After May, the options are either waiting for the November, 2010 election or calling for a special election at polling places or by mail (by mail only if the County Clerk is willing).
The board then discussed the use of an educational consultant. Though they were not all 100% certain, for the most part, they could see the value in having a consultant help with educational planning vs. relying solely on the architect. They believe the consultant will better represent the school district; however, the board is aware that architects typically include a charge for this in their contract with school districts, and the board will guard against paying twice for this service.
The board discussed the various options available to them for construction delivery methods. Without going into a ten page detailed communication describing all options available, the main difference in options is whether or not to hire a construction manager or a general contractor. With the general contractor approach, the board would work with the architect (and possibly an educational consultant) to design a building, then if the bond issue passes, they would request bids from construction firms to build the new building. The firm awarded the bid would build the new middle school. With the construction manager approach, the school board would hire a construction manager (construction company), to work with the board and architect during the design phase as well as the construction phase. This process allows for construction firm input before the design in finalized. The construction phases of the project would still be bid to reap the financial rewards of the bidding process, but the construction manager would be on board throughout the entire project.
The board also spent time talking about the architect hiring process. The board has requested letters of interest from firms. The facilities committee will be responsible for reviewing the applications and ranking the firms. The firms receiving the highest rankings will be interviewed by the entire board at a duly convened board meeting which will be open to the public.
October 21, 2009:
Legal counsel, Rex Schultze, superintendent Greg Barnes, and School District of Seward facilities committee members, Ryne Seaman, Jerry Rumery, and Scott Pekarek met with architectural/engineering firms at the school district office. This was a pre-submittal conference for those firms planning to submit a letter of interest for the proposed middle school project. All firms interested in this project were required to attend this conference.
November 5, 2009 - 6:00 PM
The Facilities Committee of the Board of Education meeting at the district office to review proposals submitted by architectural firms in order to formulate a recommendation to the entire board a group of finalists to interview for the project.
November 9, 2009 - 7:00 PM
The Board of Education met in regular session to discuss the Facilities Committees recommendations for architect finalists. A motion was made and the vote unanimous to interview architectural firms in a duly convened school board meeting, in open session, as follows:
Monday, November 16, 2009 - Sinclair Hille Architects - 6:00 PM
BCDM - 8:00 PM
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - The Clark Enersen Partners - 6:00 PM
DLR Group - 8:00 PM
The Board of Education, on Nov. 9, also took action to approve a letter of agreement with Educational Consulting Services to assist the district with educational programming for a new middle school.
November 23, 2009 - December 1, 2009
A group of board members, administrators and maintenance personnel will be touring middle schools designed by the architectural firms that were interviewed. They will be touring Hastings Middle School, Scott Middle School in Lincoln, Norris Middle School, and Alice Buffet Middle School in Omaha.
December 2, 2009
The Board of Education held a special meeting, at which the board ranked the four finalists architectural firms interviewed for the new middle school project. The Clark Enersen Partners firm received the highest ranking, so now we will enter into contract negotiations with their representatives.
January 11, 2010, Regular Board Meeting
Architect: The board approved a contract with The Clark Enersen Partners
Construction Delivery Method: The board approved the Construction Management at Risk construction delivery method for the middle school project, adopted policies required by law for this process, and appointed a committee as required by law to aid in the selection process.We will soon ask construction management firms to submit proposals for this project. Those proposals will be reviewed by the committee and ranked. Those with the highest rankings will be interviewed by the school board.
February 8, 2010, Board Meeting
The board met with Marc Munford of Ameritas to discuss bond election dates and the impact on bond interest and tax levies.
The board discussed meeting with architectural firm The Clark Enersen Partners, education consultant Jerry McCall, and Marc Munford to discuss possible middle school sites in Seward. They would also like to have further discussion on the timeline and voter education. That meeting was set for Wednesday, February 17 at 7:30 PM at the District Office. This is a special board meeting and will be open to the public.
March 8, 2010, Board Meeting
The school board approved a motion to hold a special election on August 10, 2010. The special election will be to ask voters whether or not the school district can issue bonds to finance a new middle school. This motion will allow the district to plan for an August election, even though a formal resolution calling for the election would most likely not happen until the June board meeting. The district must give the County Clerk at least 50 days notice for a special election.
March 10, 2010 - Construction Management Selection Committee Meeting
The CM Selection Committee met to review proposals from CM firms. Eight firms submitted applications and the committee narrowed the pool to 3 finalists. Kingery Construction, Cheever Construction, and Hausmann Construction, all from Lincoln, were selected for interviews.
March 16, 2010 - CM Interviews
The CM Selection Committee and School Board Members met in special session at 5:30 PM to interview Cheever Construction and Kingery Construction.
March 17, 2010 - CM Interviews and final ranking
The CM Selection Committee and School Board Members met in special session at 5:30 PM to interview Hausmann Construction. Time following the interview was allowed to review findings and rank the finalists. The final rankings of the CM Committee were 1. Kingery Construction, 2. Cheever Construction, 3. Hausmann Construction.
March 29, 2010 - Special Board of Education Meeting/Community Meeting
The school board meeting was called to order in public session and action was taken to approve the CM Committee's findings and rankings of the 3 firms mentioned above. Permission was granted to start negotiations with the top ranked firm.
Representatives from The Clark Enersen Partners, Educational Consulting Services, Ameritas Investment Corporation, and Kingery Construction presented information to the guests present. Information was presented on site selection, educational programming, bond financing, construction management, and discussion about he future of the current middle school site and buildings.
April 26, 2010 - Special Board of Education Meeting/Community Meeting
The special board meeting was called to order at 5:30 PM at the district office. Discussion with the middle school project team focused on educational programing and site selection. One patron did make comments during the public comment section regarding the concern he has with Waverly Road should it at some point in time become a city street. This patron noted that Waverly Road is the only east-west road for machinery and farm equipment travel and he would be against any improvement to that stretch of road that would prohibit the current use.
At 6:50 the board moved over to the middle school for the 2nd monthly middle school project community meeting. After introductions, representatives from The Clark Enersen Partners presented information on the ranking of potential middle school sites. There were numerous comments from patrons relative to the site selection.
The site selection discussion was followed by information on the development of the educational programming in a new middle school and how that programming is transformed into preliminary building sketches and design. The comment was made by architect Matthew Glawatz that they create a middle school to fit our needs, they don't mold our middle school programs into a preconceived building model.
Following the discussion at the middle school the board moved back to the district office to have further discussions about site, educational program, and programming decisions that will effect building size, design, and cost. We discussed the need for alternative education programming, special education programming, multipurpose room/gym space, pre-cast vs. masonry walls, heating and air conditioning, and technology/vocational areas. The board also spent a great deal of time discussing sites. After the discussion, at the architects request, board members decided to go around the table and name their top two choices in an effort to narrow down the focus. It was clear by the time this process was completed that sites 4 and 5 were the two sites that the team should work to acquire additional information on prior to our May 10 Board Meeting. Site 4 is the site southwest of the Waverly Road/Karol Kay Blvd. intersection. Site 5 is the site northwest of the Waverly Road/North Columbia St. intersection. Efforts are being made to discuss, with city personnel, the issue of large equipment access and travel on the stretch of Waverly Road from Karol Kay to Highway 15.
May 10, 2010 School Board Meeting
Representatives from The Clark Enersen Partners presented information on additional drawings they had produced on potential middle school designs. They also showed initial options for building locations on sites 4 and 5. Further discussion ensued, some in executive session, about the two sites and discussions with property owners. Following executive session the board ranked the final two sites being considered and ranked site 4 as their preferred site. This is the site south of Waverly road and west of Karol Kay Blvd. Further discussions will take place with the property owner in an effort to negotiate an option to buy this property for the school district.
Our next Community Meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 24 at 7:00 PM.
May 24, 2010 Special School Board Meeting/Community Meeting
Representatives from The Clark Enersen Partners presented information on additional drawings they had produced on the site layout and building design. Input was received from those present. Following the community meeting the school board reconvened back at the district office and had discussions on the site, building, election timeline and property acquisition. The board decided to call for a special meeting on June 7 and 6:45 PM to discuss the project further with representatives from the architectural firm, educational consultant, and construction manager.
June 14, 2010 - Regular Board of Education Meeting
The school board unanimously approved a resolution calling for a special school bond issue election on Tuesday, August 10, 2010. This resolution was forwarded on to the Seward County Clerks Office so the clerk can organize the polling places, ballots, etc. The bond issue resolution dollar amount for a new middle school was set at Seventeen Million, Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand dollars ($17,950,000). Of this amount, roughly $15 million is for construction of a one hundred and five thousand square foot middle school building. The other $2.75 million would be used for land acquisition, architect fees, bond agent fees, utilities extensions, roads, parking lots, landscaping, and so on.
The overall tax levy impact for local voters depends on a number of things. First, it will depend on the final assessed valuation of the district property as certified on August 20. It will also depend on the interest rates on bonds at the time the bonds are issued. It might also depend on our ability to issue interest free QSCB bonds offered by the federal government as part of their stimulus plan. We were awarded the authority to issue $4.7 million in interest free bonds, but there are many strings attached and we need to analyze the potential for financial savings.
Our best estimate at the present time is that the $17,950,000 bond issue will require a bond levy of 14.8 cents to make first year bond payments. Hopefully as valuations increase, the levy will decrease. Twenty years ago when we built the elementary school the annual bond levy to pay off that debt started at roughly 12 cents over the twenty year amortization period, the annual levy required to pay off that debt had declined to less that 3 cents the last year of payment. Ten years ago we started paying off the last high school addition and our levy was just under 9 cents--this year we are at 4 cents. So, as valuation increases in the school district, the levy needed to repay these bonds will decrease.
If our levy ends up at 14.8 cents for this middle school project, the impact on a homeowner would be $148 for every $100,000 of property valuation. If your property is valued at $200,000 your added tax would be $296, and so on.
Again, we do not know what the future holds. We currently know that interest rates are favorable, but the rates change frequently. We also do not know the rate at which our assessed valuations in the district will change, so it is important for you to understand that these numbers are based on estimates.
June 28, 2010
The fourth of five scheduled community meetings was held at the middle school to discuss progress on the bond issue election.
July 12, 2010
The board of education met in regular session and discussed property acquisitions for the middle school project in closed session.
July 26, 2010
The board of education met and approved an option to buy land consisting of 40 acres south of Waverly road and just west of Karol Kay Blvd. for the middle school site. They then held their fifth of five scheduled community meetings to discuss the project.
August 10, 2010
Special election on the proposed $17,950,000 bond issue was held. Unofficial results at the time this article was updated on August 11 of 1,325 votes in favor of issuing said bonds, and 600 votes against.
