CEL board juggles renovation costs to fit $2.7 million sale of bonds

[March 14, 2013]  The Chester-East Lincoln school board had a special meeting Tuesday night. The meeting was called to discuss decisions relevant to construction contracts for renovations to the school.

Board members present were Kenny Golden, president; Ben Roland, vice president; Larry Hall; Leslie Starasta; Kenda Kitner; and Mark Mathon. Superintendent Jennifer Hamm was also present.

Before the discussion could begin, Jeff Brooks addressed the board members. Brooks was curious as to what exactly the night's business would entail and what a debt certificate is.

Tom Crabtree of Stifel Nicolaus, who was present to explain the final details of the bonding process, answered Brooks' question. Crabtree explained that the term "debt certificate" is merely the technical term for what the board would be signing so bonds can be sold.

Brooks also wanted to state that he is still against the board's decision to undertake such a massive series of renovations. "I think the voters ought to have a say. It's not this building and what the building is made out of that makes an education for these kids," said Brooks. "It's the people inside it, the faculty and the students."

After Brooks' comments, the board turned to examining the sizable list of renovations ahead to determine what can be removed from the plans in order to make up for coming in over budget.

Prior to the meeting, the board approved a budgetary figure of $2.7 million total in expenditures for this series of renovations. After examining the actual prices of the projects, a total of just under $2.9 million was presented with the contracts for construction.

Jennifer Hamm presented her calculations to the board members, and she said that the board would need to find $199,000 in renovations to remove from the list. The board members agreed after looking at the list to remove what would not be considered "brick and mortar" renovations or anything that does not concern the structure of the building.

After close examination of the list, Hamm was able to make suggestions as to what should be removed and possibly added back at a later date. The removed items include things like furniture, art cabinets, a canopy for the entrance, soundproofing tiles in the ceiling and new doors in the media center. With all of the suggestions Hamm made to the board members, the bill would still be $60,849 over budget.

The contract does include a contingency of $32,000, which can be used to pay for part of the remainder.

One of the items that the board greatly wishes to keep in the list of approved items is a Bradley sink, a sink that allows multi-person hand-washing and uses foot-pedal activation instead of handles. The purchase and installation of the sink would cost $13,000, but that number could change. The board hopes to keep it in the plans to help prevent another outbreak of illness similar to what the school witnessed over the winter.

The question arose of where to find the amount of money to pay for the rest. While the board could still find more items to deduct from the list, the issue would be attempting to add them back later on. After Hamm's suggested deductions, the items that remain center more on construction. It was suggested by Hamm that the school use some of the remainder in their health, life safety fund, which still has $111,000 left. Hamm also mentioned using the working cash fund, which has $196,000.

Another concern that the board addressed was the difference in bids between asbestos removal contractors. The lowest bid for the work came in $36,000 less than the second-lowest. Hamm said that the company (which was not named) is relatively new, and they may be trying to use such a price to make a name for themselves, or they may have miscalculated. Should the board accept the lower bid, they could use the money to help cover the $60,000 still needed.

The board members will need to decide on a list of removed items by March 19 at the regularly scheduled board meeting.

After the discussion of renovations, Crabtree explained the final step of selling the obligation bonds. Crabtree said that while the interest on bond sales has risen slightly over the past month, the rate is still at historic lows, and it is still a good moment to sell bonds. Crabtree also said that if the board passes the final resolution to sell bonds, he could have their money to them on March 26. The board approved the resolution unanimously.

[By DEREK HURLEY]