At the Jan. 24 regular, in-person meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, the board ratified the sale of the second series of bonds for $8,060,000 for planned building and site uses.
Matt Heiser, a financial attorney with the Thrun law firm, explained that this is the second series of bonds being sold and on Jan. 13 there were five bids at competitive rates, with an average interest of 2.03%.
Based on the written recommendation of the district’s authorized officer, the board approved Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as purchaser. The paying agent-bond registrar is Huntington National Bank, Grand Rapids.
The approximate sum of $80,255.27 is the cost of issuance of the bonds. Net interest costs will be $1,803,305.65
Heiser said on Feb. 10 the sum of $8,919,634 will be deposited in the 2022 Capital Projects Fund.
After the bonds were sold, came the discussion on how the money was to be spent on the renovations to Owen Intermediate School.
Rob Kakoczki of Plante Moran Cresa said the pricing for the project is substantially higher than anticipated and the work planned for Tyler and Savage schools will be held off until the Series 3 bonds are sold.
He said the renovations for Owen show total costs of $8,156,563. He said the work is “nothing flashy” and includes the mechanical system and electrical system.
“We tried to scale it back as much as we could,” he said, adding they still will install windows and do painting and the soffits.
“It’s really important to finish Owen,” said School Supt. Pete Kudlak. “It’s better – cheaper – to do it all at once.” He said that want to make it fantastic and it already is a fantastic building.
Kakoczki said they have two years before Series 3 and they are starting to look at a gameplan for that now.
The Owen upgrades will start April 4, right after spring break, and most will be done by the end of August. They found a way to work in phases and most of the construction work will be done in off-school hours.
The work will be voted on at an upcoming meeting. Recommended is Granger Construction and 11 subcontractors.
The board also discussed details of the upgrades to the Belleville High School football field, track, and tennis courts, for a total of $878,415.17 to come out of the general fund.
Supt. Kudlak said they had to extend the bid for electrical to make it $920,000. He said they need new electrical for the football field and need relocation of the electrical from the place that gets wet. He said there was interference with head sets and so they had to run a line above ground to the field.
The football turf will be replaced with premier, top-of-the-grade turf at a cost of $413,152, and it will be in blocks of dark green and lighter green, like Livonia has. A tiger head will be in the middle of the field and paws on the 25-yard lines. An alternate for $20,000 goal posts was included.
Kakoczki said that they tried to get the tennis courts done last summer but could get no bids so they packaged it with the stadium. The cracks will be filled in the tennis courts and it will be resurfaced for a total of $68,000.
The track will be resurfaced at a cost of $112,700.
Approval of this BHS project will also be voted on at an upcoming meeting.
Also at the Jan. 24 one-hour-and-25-minute meeting the board:
• Approved the resignations of teachers Marcia Newman from the ECC after four years of service as of Jan. 13, Jaime Elgas from Rawsonville Elementary after five years of service as of Jan. 14, and Fatima Thompson from Rawsonville Elementary after six years of service as of Jan. 17;
• Approved the employment of Renee Taylor as Great Start Readiness Program Lead Teacher at the Early Childhood Development Center as of Jan. 14 and Jordan Webb as a teacher at McBride Middle School as of Jan. 25;
• Approved the resignation of Jacqueline Steele from the Transportation after less than one year of year as of Jan. 21;
• Approved employment of Priscilla Jordan as a bus aide in the Transportation Department as of Jan. 14 and Michael Signorelli for part-time maintenance in the Building and Grounds Department as of Jan. 11. It was pointed out Signorelli retired after 35 years and is coming back to help; and
• Had the first reading of five proposed policy changes, led by Dionne Falconer. She said the committee recommended not adopting #3409 Face Mask Requirement or #3119 Experimental or Pilot Programs because neither one is necessary as a policy. The committee recommended revisions to #2201 Board Powers/General Powers, #4205, Hiring and Background Checks and #4601 General. She said two of those allow the superintendent to do his job and the other is to follow the law. The policies will have their second readings at an upcoming meeting.
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