W-MU school board accepts bond petition

WINFIELD - In April, Winfield-Mt. Union residents will decide if the school will be able to make needed repairs to its facilities or if all existing project money for the next 10 years will go to replacing the environmental system.

During the regular school board meeting Wednesday evening, Feb. 13, the school's facilities committee presented a petition with 46 signatures to bond for $4,750,000 to improve the school. 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.

'A total of 134 qualified electors voted in the last election of school,” superintendent Jeff Maeder said. 'I don't know if it says it on the petition, but you need to have 25 percent. This is more than that.”

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

Maeder said the facilities committee has also created a slogan for the bond campaign - 'W-MU: Tradition with a vision.” He said the slogan shows the school district hopes to maintain the tradition of the school important in the community, but has a vision for the future. He said the committee is working on an informational video on the referendum and also hopes to distribute information during parent-teacher conferences.

During the December meeting, the board learned that, instead of $6.1 million the total project would cost, the total would be between $7.5 and $7.9 million. Previously, the board had intended to bond for $4.3 million for the project, which would add $2.70 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to property taxes.

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 $6,250,000. 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.