The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Architect discusses district's bond plan
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: June 5, 2008
Dexter Community Schools has begun the process of implementing the $47.9 million in money awarded after voters approved the district's bond proposal on May 6.
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Residents overwhelmingly favored extending an 8.5-mill levy on property taxes within the district by a margin of 2-to-1.
The first leg of the process involved a series of design team meetings held this week. Input was gathered from building personnel, department heads, administrators and community residents who were part of the public education process and early steering committees during the bond's formative period.
Meetings were held Tuesday to discuss how the money would be invested in improving science rooms, music and theaters, technology and pool facilities.
Meetings to discuss different aspects will be staggered throughout the day today: transportation at noon and 7 p.m.; and athletics and outdoor site improvements at 2:45 p.m. and 8 p.m.
"What we're really interested in doing is just listening to what the public has in mind and incorporating that into the bond plan as much as we can," said Superintendent Evelynn Shirk.
"We want to continue that dialogue with the community that we started with the whole CORSE (Committee On Revenue growth & Saving Costs for Education) committee."
Last week representatives from architecture firm Kingscott Associates and Granger Construction Co. were in the district to discuss the preliminary phase of the process.
"I think one of the important things for the community to know is that it is a qualified bond issued," said Bob McGraw of Kingscott.
The bond is qualified with the Michigan Department of Treasury, so if the district defaults on the bond it is backed by the state, McGraw explained.
Under the structure of the bond not only is the money backed, but also the outlay of funds allows greater flexibility and better interest rates, he added.
"We wanted to make it clear to people that the rules state that you can't do maintenance or pay salaries with the bond money," McGraw said. "I still think there are some folks in the community who do not know how schools are funded.
"They will be used for the remodeling of the buildings in the district," he said. It will also be used to purchase property and other expansions.
"We have some flexibility in terms of what types of remodeling we can do in the broad language of the ballot proposal," McGraw said.
"It speaks to additions and remodeling at all of the buildings, but the district is not able to build a new building, such as a school or administrative office.
"The community should feel comfortable that the bonds are going to be used as intended as outlined in the bond application."
Bates Elementary is in line for $1.37 million in improvements; the Copeland administration building, $1.06 million; Cornerstone Elementary, $2.72 million; Creekside Intermediate, $7.2 million; Mill Creek Middle School, $5.9 million; Wylie Elementary, more than $8 million; and Dexter High School, almost $14 million in improvements.
The district's transportation building will receive almost $3 million in improvements and the bus fleet will be replaced by 70 new buses over nine years at a cost of more than $6.2 million.
According to McGraw, residents shouldn't expect a short construction cycle because of the relatively small amount of this bond issue, compared those approved in the past for nearly double the amount of money.
"Just because these are smaller projects doesn't mean they'll be done a lot quicker," he said. "The reality is that it's a lot more complicated with many smaller remodeling projects at various buildings."
After the feedback is received from user groups and community gathered design teams by the bond steering committee and from there by the Board of Education for approval, a building-by-building construction strategy will be used to minimize disruption.
"Since we're not building a new building, we have to take time planning out how we approach these projects throughout the district," McGraw said.
"We also have to plan it out in such a way as to stay on budget ... to make sure that the administration stays on budget, so all projects can be completed within the scope of the bond money available."
One of the goals of how construction will take place is to allow for better bidding and cost control, as well as ease coordination and management. The two-phase process will also easier on building staff, be visitors and students.
"One of the things we're trying to do is balance the workload fairly equally in terms of work to be done in each phase," McGraw said.
"We tried to distribute larger projects between the phases. We also tried to look at it geographically, so we will be working in buildings that are contiguous to each other on the campus, which will also help with material and labor costs."
The first phase of construction will focus on the high school, Creekside Intermediate and the transportation center.
McGraw projects that projects in those buildings will go out for bid in spring of 2009, with construction starting that year in June.
Construction will continue through that entire school year and that summer and will finish early after the school year starts in 2010.
The second phase will focus on the remaining buildings and will begin in January 2009. It will run through late November or early December that year and bids will be seen in January 2010, with construction starting that spring and going through the following school year until October 2011.
McGraw says that schedule will remain the official timeline unless comments received in the future dictates a change.
He also praised the district's community outreach and involvement.
"The district worked hard to involve the community in identifying what the needs are through the CORSE process," McGraw said. "The community led the effort in refining the list of what should be included in the bond.
"As the community continues to grow, and maybe with the economy not quite as fast as it has been, there will be more needs down the road and the district will want to make sure that this bond is successful in order to lay the groundwork for the success of future projects."
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