USD 489, Vision Team aiming for second bond

The arguments from either side are many.

Too many for a compromise? Maybe.

Yet, there seems to be a belief that when the discussion of a possible bond dealing with Hays USD 489, Kan., school district facilities are put on the table, something will be able to be done. Many community members believe improvements to certain or all district facilities are needed.

The question, though, becomes: What needs are there -- if any?

"Each community is unique," said Amber Beverlin, DLR Group senior architect. "I will say the similarities between Hays and other communities is that you usually get people who are strongly in support of what schools are trying to do. Then you usually get people who are more in keeping taxes low and not increasing the cost of taxes. Kind of a 'making due of what you have with what you have' type of mentality."

Beverlin has seen it firsthand in Hays. A member of the architectural firm hired by USD 489 in December, she has been in the community several times in the past five months. One of her responsibilities has been to be a part and coordinate the Vision Team meetings. The team of 25 to 30 community members was brought together at the request of DLR to create a group that would work together in forming ideas as to what the needs of the school district are.

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It's ultimate goal is the possibility of taking a recommendation to the board of how it might proceed with a potential second bond. In June, a $94 million bond for improvements to district facilities failed when three questions were asked on the ballot.

While some supporters of the bond were left confident by a somewhat close defeat -- 56.25 percent to 43.75 -- at least one opponent to it believed the end result was not that close.

In a letter to the editor written by Tom Wasinger and published by The Hays Daily following the bond election, he stated three reasons in his opening line as to why he believed the bond failed. All three reasons Wasinger said were "trust." Three paragraphs from the opening sentence, he lists his three reasons as to why he believes it failed.

"The failure of the school board for the past 20 years or more, in even the simplest of terms, to budget enough money to take care of basic repairs, maintenance and improvement issues," Wasinger said as his first reason.

Part of the Vision Team, Wasinger is not in favor of a bond being proposed to the board soon. He said he believes there needs to be more time spent refining what the board wants to do and be more prepared when they go to the public with a plan.

As of Friday afternoon, Wasinger was one of two people who have filed for November's BOE election. Three seats on the board will be open for the election. Current board President Lance Bickle is the other who has filed.

"They want to pursue a bond, but what that shape and form is, I have no clue," Wasinger said. "They're still struggling to figure out where they want to spend the money. It's a little early for that."

As there might be a debate as to how long another bond should be held off for, the flip side to that is those who point to reasons why the issue of a bond should have been presented years ago in Hays. Sherry Dryden, a USD 489 board member from 1999 to 2005, said it is long overdue.

"(In the early 2000s) we were seeing the need and what was needing to have been done what we're doing now," said Dryden, who is a member of the Vision Team. "We're basically 20 years behind of where we need to be.

"I see opportunities missed by our declining buildings, and I wasn't surprised to learn that the average age of our school buildings are 90 years old. When you look at other comparable school districts in the state, we are very behind."

The question that will drive any possibility of a bond is: Where will the money come from? It is that alone that Henry Schwaller IV sees as one big obstacle . For the bond in 2016, the proposal was a half-cent city sales tax to go along with the $94 million bond.

"It comes down to the detail of how are we going to pay for it?" Schwaller said. "And what I mean is, how are the taxpayers going to pay for it? We forget to ask that question. Voters and the people who live here are very sensitive about the prices of anything. It's generally what kills it. You learn through that first vote, and then you go back and take another bite of that apple."

Schwaller, a longtime city commissioner and a graduate of Hays High School, was a sophomore in 1981 when the current school was finished. He said he remembers the challenges, and how some of them were not met when the school was opened.

However, not involved with the research of school properties and the condition they are in now, Schwaller said it still is obvious there is work that needs to be done to district properties.

"I do understand the buildings are in need of repair," Schwaller said. "Anyone can see that some of the buildings should be taken out of service.

"In my business of operating buildings, the cost of fixing up or repairing or modifying some of the buildings will be greater than their value. So some of the buildings should be taken out of service. I don't know what the committee will recommend. I do know that generally speaking, voters in this area prefer smaller projects. Larger one-size-fits-all projects are not as palatable to voters. They're difficult to pull off."

After going with a sales tax on the last bond, the school district might try another avenue if it were to pursue a second attempt at a bond. This time around, with a property tax. In April, DLR administered a phone survey throughout Hays. There were 555 who responded to the survey, which asked those who answered whether they would pay $0, $10, $20, $30 or $40 more a month. Of those who responded, 83 percent said they would put in something. The largest majority was $10, which was 42 percent of those who responded, according to USD 489 Superintendent John Thissen.

"From the architect's point of view, that's a great number," Thissen said of the 83 percent who said they would agree to raise their taxes.

The Vision Team, which is scheduled to meet for its seventh meeting Tuesday, believe there is the possibility they could be ready by the end of the meeting to go to the school board with a recommendation. If the group decides it is not ready, it will have a meeting in June.

During a team meeting in April, two pathways were introduced to the group involving options as to possible enhancements to USD 489 facilities. One option involved building a new high school. It also would include renovating the current high school and transition it to become the middle school. The middle school would be renovated to become an elementary school, and Wilson and Roosevelt would each be renovated. Lincoln and O'Loughlin elementary schools would be vacated.

The second option would be for a new elementary school to be built. The high school, middle school, Wilson and Roosevelt all to be renovated, and again for Lincoln and O'Loughlin to be vacated.

Nabholz Construction, the Construction Manager At-Risk, was asked to come up with cost estimates for both projects, just for the need if either would be viable. The first pathway with a new high school and everything else that was included has a possible price of $150 million. The other was for $120 million.

"I think the (Vision Team) is having the challenge at this point," Thissen said. "They've been working all along and gathering information. Now you end up having things they could do. They could do renovation; they can build. Do they want to do FEMA shelters? Do they want to put an auditorium on? Is there a gym that's needed somewhere? You identify all these things and go, 'OK. If we want to do all these things, this is the number.' We know the community is not going to support that big of a number. So then it's a matter of, where do we get? What do we cut at this point?"

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School bonds Kansas
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