District 80 approves bond issuance

The District 80 Board of Education Monday approved issuing $5.5 million in bonds to fund a new gym and safety upgrades at district buildings.

Voters had endorsed the issuance through a referendum in April and Monday's school board action officially authorized selling the bonds.

The goal is to use the revenue to build a new gym at Casey Middle School for $3.8 to $5 million and to use the rest of the money for safety upgrades.

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Currently, the district is deciding between two architectural firms to oversee the new gym's construction -- FGM Architects and Baysinger Architects PLLC.

FGM's proposal calls for building a 25,000-square foot structure at a total cost of roughly $5 million. Baysinger presented two options -- a 12,476-square foot facility for $3.8 million or a 13,783-square foot gym for $4.2 million. The district has not yet decided on a proposal.

"I'm trying to figure out who's going to give us the best gym for our money, basically, and I don't want to spend too much money," said Superintendent Aletta Lawrence. "I just want a gym."

Lawrence said she has been visiting other school gyms built by these architects in Vienna, Mounds, Benton and elsewhere. She said she'd like for the Casey gym to be completed by the fall of 2018 but that schedule depends on a number of factors.

"I'm still wanting to go see Wayne City's gym because that's a very new one that's just gone up," Lawrence said. "And so as of right now the next step would probably be to choose an architect but we aren't really to that point right yet."

District 80 will sell the $5.5 million in bonds to the bonding company Stifel Nicolaus which will in turn find buyers for them, likely banks, institutional buyers or individuals, said School Board Member Merle Hollmann. The bonds in question will have a 20-year duration.

D-80 officials recently took part in a ratings meeting for the bonds where they talked about the district being a "good risk" for a loan because of its steady income, Lawrence said.

The purpose of the session was to ascertain the district's status since the last time its bonds were given a rating. Also participating in the meeting were representatives of the rating company Moody's, Stifel Nicolaus, and legal counsel.

"They were making sure that our property values are steady, that our local community has good jobs," Lawrence said. "And the nice thing was, I was able to tell them that Continental (Tire is) adding 500 jobs. And so we have a community that is stable."

The school board Monday also approved resolutions to refinance older district bonds at lower interest rates to save taxpayer money.

In addition, the board approved a two-year contract extension with busing company Durham School Services.

The contract calls for a 3 percent pay increase the first year and a 3 1/4 percent increase the second year.

Assistant Superintendent Ryan Swan said the contract also includes provisions for more extensive background checks on drivers.

Another issue to arise Monday related to testing district drinking fountains and water faucets for lead to comply with a new law.

Lawrence said the district has removed two older drinking fountains and replaced four fountains at the J.L. Buford Intermediate Education Center due to elevated lead levels. The levels are not high enough to cause health concerns but are too high for the current guidelines, Lawrence said.

In addition, fountains at all the buildings will be run for about a minute each morning to reduce lead levels.

All the district buildings except for the Primary Center were tested. The Primary Center will be tested in a few years, Lawrence said.

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