W-MU keeps promise, begins work on HVAC system

By Karyn Spory, Mt. Pleasant News

WINFIELD ? The Winfield-Mt. Union School Board is keeping their word and moving forward with a new HVAC system for the school building.

Last year, as the school board promoted the upcoming $9.5 million bond vote, they promised either way the vote came down a new heating and cooling system would be put in place. After the referendum failed, the district was unsure how best to proceed.

Superintendent Jeff Maeder said it could go one of two ways ? begin the planning process for air conditioning the 1923 portion of the school building or wait and try passing a bond referendum once again.

?I need to know how you want to go ahead,? said Maeder.

Board president Klay Edwards broke the silence. ?I would be in favor of going ahead and moving forward,? he said. ?We?re going to have to do it sooner or later anyway.?

His fellow board members agreed. ?And like you said,? he said turning toward Maeder, ?if we wait for a bond referendum, the savings (of doing the entire project together) could be eaten up with increased construction prices.?

Edwards added there was no guarantee a second bond referendum would pass and that would likely push the project down the road three or four years.

?Who knows, people will see we?re keeping our word to upgrade the school, we might get a few people excited (for the February 2018 bond vote),? he added.

The project had been originally estimated at $2.3 million dollars, but just air conditioning the 1923 portion of the building could have different costs associated with it. Maeder said KJWW (IMEG Corp.) would do a study on the project and bring back and updated estimate.

In other construction business, Maeder said the roof repair was almost complete. He reported the project had gone smoothly until a recent storm blew the tarp covering off the roof, allowing water to seep into the building.

Maeder said crews vacuumed the carpets, to remove any moisture. The rain did get into the insulation and piping in the building and the district might now have an asbestos problem. ?The pipe itself is fine, we think, but we called ServPro to see if we had any other moisture on the top floor,? he said. ?At all costs we want to prevent the mold from spreading. So we?re doing our best.?

Maeder said ServPro took a sample of the insulation and will be in contact with the results.

?The roofer has insurance for things just like this that happen,? he added.

In regards to the upcoming school year, Maeder said the district has filled most of their teaching positions, the exception being the English Language Learners position. Last year, the district shared the position with Wapello. However, the arrangement would not work for the upcoming year, leaving the district to find a new coordinator.

Maeder said he would be contacting different districts to see if a sharing agreement could be made.

The next meeting of the W-MU School Board will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2017, at 6 p.m., in the media center.