Series of community meetings will discuss W-MU construction plan

WINFIELD - Before hitting the polls in April, the Winfield-Mt. Union (W-MU) School District has scheduled two special public meetings to ensure residents have the correct information on the bond refrendum and building plan.

Superintendent Jeff Maeder said from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, March 16, he and members of the school facilities committee would be in the district's new industrial tech building on North Locust Street to meet with community members. No formal presentation is expected to be given and discussion on the district's $7.5 million renovation plan will be done individually or in small groups. From 6 to 8 p.m., Tuesday, March 19, the group will gather at the veterans building to meet with community members again.

'We'll certainly have information that we have been providing all along,” Maeder said. 'It will give people the chance to ask clarifying questions about things such as the tax impact.”

The W-MU School Board has approved putting a bond referendum for $4,750,000 to improve the school on the April ballot. Projects are expected to improve the industrial arts building, the pre-K area, portions of the existing building, and replace the climate control system with an HVAC system. The council approved accepting the petition with no discussion.

The HVAC system is a project the school is required to do whether the bond issue passes or not.

If the issue is approved, the owner of a $100,000 house would see a tax increase of about $11.72 per month. Landowners would see an increase of $2.35 per acre. To be approved, the bond issue has to pass by 60 percent.

During a previous meeting, Samuel Johnson, of BLDD Architects, said that as a fallback they had the funding to do a stand-alone installation of a HVAC environment system. This would leave the school district without funding for additional projects for 10 years.

According to the proposed three-year master plan, phase 1 of the project would cover the renovation of a bank building the district is in the process of purchasing; upgrading the pre-K extension; doing renovations to the band and music rooms and the commons area; and installing the HVAC system. The phase would cost $6,400,000. Phase 2 of the plan would renovate the school's gym including the addition of seating. This would cost $1,125,000 and is dependent on state Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) funding, which has not been confirmed will continue. If the bond is approved, the renovations would take place in the summer of 2020 and part of 2021.

Maeder said the district has created a Facebook page with up-to-date information on the bond referendum, as well as a website at WMUhistoryandtradition.com.

'Something important to know, that the board wants people know, is that we don't plan to come back and ask for more money in two or three years,” Maeder said. 'This is a once in a generation project.”

This is not the first bond referendum the district has held. In February 2017 a two-question bond issue asking for $4 per $1,000 of assessed valuation was narrowly defeated.