W-MU mulls next step in facilities study

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

WINFIELD ? Where do we go from here?

It?s the question members of the Winfield-Mt. Union Building Committee were asking BLDD Architects during the committee?s meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting was a follow-up to the first community engagement meeting, which was held on Monday, Oct. 17.

During the meeting, community members ? which totaled about 83 individuals ? were asked to tour the district campus, point out spaces they felt needed attention and look at three building options architects BLDD had come up with.

?We really wanted to understand where (the community) felt the gaps were within the building,? said Sam Johnson, of BLDD Architects.

The feedback the consulting firm received from the exercise lined up fairly well with the district?s school board, Johnson said. Community members cited the industrial technology classroom, practice gym, pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten classrooms and cafeteria as high-priority areas.

Johnson also added that when it came to building options, options two and three seemed to resonate with the community members present.

With the data configured, where does the committee go from here?

Johnson simply said, preparing for the next community engagement meeting. During the next meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m., in the media center, Johnson would like members of the committee to take the wheel. ?We want this to be in the community?s hands as possible,? he remarked.

During the upcoming meeting, community members will hear from a representative from Piper Jaffray concerning the district?s financial health and its borrow capacity. Then, BLDD will present updated building plans with cost estimates.

Johnson walked the committee through those plans. With each click of the button, Johnson would describe the layout of the plan, changes made in order to line up the plan with feedback the firm received and, every once in a while, he would have his assistant notate changes he felt would need to be made before the three options were presented next month.

?Hopefully we do a good job and find out what the community will support,? he said.

Each of the building options reconfigured the main entrance, making it more secure and open to a long hallway that would run the length of the building and link to an event entrance at the back of the school. The plans also included pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms inside of the main building, an extended industrial arts classroom, larger band and music rooms, a family and consumer science classroom near the kitchen, updated kitchen, a competition regulated practice gym and an expanded cafeteria in the way of a commons area. Each of the plans also included a new HVAC and air condition system.

The building plans ranged in total from $14 million to $16 million. The district, however, only has the ability to borrow up to $11 million.

Superintendent Jeff Maeder said the school board was looking into ways to fund the HVAC system without having that project tied up with the bond referendum. ?That way if the bond doesn?t pass, we can still update the boiler and put in air conditioning,? he said. ?This is the top priority of the district.?

According to results from the first community engagement meeting, a new HVAC system was also high on the community?s list of priorities.

In previous meetings, the school board had discussed only borrow up to $8 million, if a bond referendum was passed. This way the district had ?wiggle room? if something major were to happen.

Committee member Karen Jennings said she had some issues with how the presentation was laid out. ?I don?t want to get them excited and then pull the rug out from under them,? she said. ?I don?t want to show them all the cool things we can do and then say, ?but this is all you can afford.??

Johnson said he would take that into consideration, possibly moving the financial presentation up in the schedule. However, he said he wanted to give the community a look at the big picture. ?This is a 20 year plan,? he said. ?You know, there?s a saying ?if you don?t have a map, any road will get you there.? I have seen many schools make cool updates, only to have those projects not configure into the bigger plan.?

Jennings said even if this was a 20 year plan, the district?s ability to borrow $11 million, would be on a 20 year bond referendum; it didn?t make any sense how a $16 million project could be a 20 year plan if the district could only borrow $11 million within that time span.

Johnson said Piper Jaffray would make that clear during the community meeting, but in short, as the district paid down their debt their borrowing authority would go back up, making construction project tangible in the future. Johnson added some of the projects, some of the smaller ones, could be done over time, without having to borrow money.

?I don?t want to upset people by showing something they can?t afford, but I do want to show them the scope of the big picture and how we can make that real,? he said.