Talawanda leans toward building new elementary

Talawanda District leaders are turning their attention to another building project since the January opening of a new Kramer Elementary.

Construction of a new Marshall Elementary — keeping the most recent addition of the gymnasium area — began to look like the most cost-effective option as the number of serious issues with the building continued to rise, increasing the cost of renovation.

District Treasurer Mike Davis told the board of education at their May 15 meeting the projected renovation cost has been rising and is now approaching the estimated $11 million cost of building a new school, with the gymnasium area maintained.

That came at a good time for the district as the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission announced Talawanda was one of nine districts chosen for special funding consideration in July.

“This is unprecedented to work on two buildings without going to our constituents for a tax increase,” Davis said.

The plan would bonds that would be paid back using the district’s regular Permanent Improvement funds over 25 years. Those P.I. funds have averaged $1.09 million over the past three years and are used for a variety of permanent district needs.

No action was taken at the May 15 meeting, but all five board members agreed with pursuing the idea of new construction. They will, however, need to approve a Notice of Commencement Agreement by June 9, which will require a special meeting to meet a deadline by the OFCC to consider at their July meeting.

He told the board there is still no guarantee of state funding, but the district needs to be in the queue in order to be considered.

“I am very much in favor of moving forward. I think it would be foolish to renovate rather than (build) new,” board Vice President Michael Crowder said. “The need for a ton of trailers for the kids if we renovate is a big difference between the two.”

Board member Lois Vollmer also agreed with the build option.

“I’m not one who likes to spend more money than we need to but with the cost difference I see building new,” she said.

The Marshall building was built in 1968 on a 47-acre site with a new gym added in 2005 on the east side of the building. That addition is the only part of the current facility which has air conditioning.

A host of internal problems were discovered in the original facility study and more were uncovered during the recent, more in-depth, look at the building. A major problem is the fact there is little space between the ceiling and the roof to accommodate air conditioning and other heating requirements. That would force the addition of large air conditioning units to be placed on the roof, which Davis called “unsightly.”

“It is ugly,” he said this past week, explaining he has spoken to officials in the Ross district, which went with that option in their renovation work and now regret it. “It is a load on the roof, structurally. Knowing what we know from their experience, it does not make sense to do that.”

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The cost of renovation work has continued to rise as the study progressed, increasing the cost to $9.04 million, while the estimate on new construction holds at $10.8 million.

Davis has reservations about that lower renovation number, too.

“That $9 million is things we know about. The building was first constructed in 1968 and when we open up the building, we do not know what things we will find,” he said. “I think we will go in and find things we did not know about and that will further narrow that delta between renovation and building new.”

Interest rates provide a further piece of good news, he said.

With interest rates hitting new lows and no way to predict what they will do, Davis said this is a good time to proceed and borrow the needed $7.2 million over 25 years, again repeating it would mean no new taxes.

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