School Facilities Upgrades
School district seeks architectural proposals for $18.9M project
By Ted Pennekamp
Following the passage of the Prairie du Chien School District referendum, the school board met Wednesday night, April 6 to get a jump on how to proceed with the facilities upgrades for all three school buildings.
The board decided to invite HSR Associates of La Crosse and FEH Design of Dubuque to submit proposals by noon on April 11 for the architectural and engineering of the full scope of the project, the cost of which can be up to $18.9 million. The board will make a decision on Monday night, April 11 as to which firm to hire. FEH Design had been the architectural consultant to the school district in the months leading up to the April 5 referendum. The facilities upgrades portion of the referendum passed 1,250-1,217.
District Administrator Drew Johnson said that the proposals from HSR Associates and FEH Design should have two options:
1) Traditional design-bid-build with a timeline of contractor bids being due in January 2017. The school board may hire their own owner’s representative such as CESA 10 for on-site oversight.
2) Expanded architectural and engineering services with the same timeline and also providing on-site oversight and acting as the owner’s representative including approval of all payments and collecting that information in the required formats that can be easily presented to school bookkeepers for timely and accurate payment.
The general timeline, said Johnson, will be that detailed design and engineering will begin immediately next week after the selection of the architect. That process will be ongoing through December of 2016. The general contractor will be selected in January 2017 and construction will begin as appropriate after that. The estimated date for full occupancy is late 2018.
“In the planning and design process, we will be having many options for community members and school employees to give input and to follow the process,” Johnson said. “Our school buildings are all community buildings and we want to make sure that we continue to take in as much input as possible to make this project the best possible for everyone.”
The facilities upgrades are expected to consist of air conditioning in all three schools; construction of additions for a gym annex, support space, instrumental music and technical education at Bluff View Intermediate School; a new auditorium, greenhouse, gymnasium and support space at the high school; remodeling, renovation and improvements at B.A. Kennedy Elementary School; playground, parking and site improvements at Bluff View; and acquiring technical equipment and other furnishings, fixtures and equipment.
In addition to facilities upgrades, the voters also passed the portion of the referendum that will allow the school district to exceed the revenue limit in order to have more funds for operating expenses. That portion of the referendum passed 1,263-1,168. The school district can now exceed the revenue limit by $890,000 for the 2016-2017 school year and by an additional $90,000 per year for the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school years and thereafter for recurring purposes.
The former revenue cap of $9,334 per student was one of the lowest in the state. The new revenue cap is estimated to be $10,054 per student.
The financing for both portions of the referendum is expected to be a 20-year bond at an interest rate of less than 3.5 percent.
