Published: July 16, 2008 11:13 am            

District building boom

Stillwater school board meeting focuses on current and future facilities

Facilities dominated discussion Tuesday during the Stillwater Board of Education meeting.

Board members approved 15 contracts for the football stadium/multipurpose facility at Stillwater High School but declined to award the contract for phase two of the vocational-agriculture facility. They also received a report concerning the Long Range Facilities Committee and approved a change order for the junior high track project.

The Long Range Facilities Committee had been dormant but has been reconstituted with five subcommittees that, by design, will do much of the work. The subcommittees are:

• Agriculture;

• Aesthetics, architecture and landscaping;

• Academics;

• Athletics;

• Maintenance and sustainability.

The 23 members of the committee — Jay Albright, Richard Pratz, Jerry Fitch, Lorrie Janzen, James Motes, Jim Bose, Barry Patton, Steve Carpenter, Gary Gardner, Mark Payton, Shelly Sitton, Vincent Burke, Joe Payne, Kathleen Harder, Melanie Bayles, Nigel Jones, Lou Anella, Jeanne Knobbe, Kevin Fowler, Tom Dearinger, Terri Sahs, Brad Rickelman and Shannon Williams — have been placed on subcommittees based on their areas of expertise, Ryan said.

The aesthetics, architecture and landscaping committee will focus on the appearance of district facilities — an item also broached by board member Craig Carter during the meeting.

“This is an undervisited portion of our organization,” Ryan said.

The maintenance and sustainability committee has a two-fold purpose: making sure buildings are maintained and considering the long-term costs of changes, particularly energy usage. The committee has met once and likely will be busy.

“In two years’ time we may be coming back to the voters for a bond issue,” Ryan said.

The main project from the $31 million bond issue approved in October — the football stadium — saw 15 contracts approved Tuesday, mostly for materials rather than construction. The largest contract was $791,408 for artificial turf; the second largest was $499,850 for a scoreboard.

The vo-ag facility was not as fortunate. Board members toured phase one work on Monday and approved it as substantially complete, but were fazed by the amount of work left to be done and the condition of what had been completed.

“There’s a hole in the middle of the floor that I’m told I approved,” said board member Mike Dicks.

When the initial project exceeded budget, some work was delayed until more money became available. The board members approved the initial design documents, which also guided the work after the changes.

At Dicks’ request, the board tabled the item until members receive a list of work that is to be completed in phase two.

The contract could possibly be approved Monday when the board meets for an all-day work session.

“We still think it will be one of the premier facilities in the state when it’s done,” Dicks said.

On the junior high track, the board approved a change order worth $65,950 for soil stabilization. The cost is within the project’s contingency amount.

        

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