Voting continues prior to April 2 bond election

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - Voting continues Friday on a proposed $30 million PreK-3rd grade elementary school for the Fort Madison Community School District.

The new building is proposed to be constructed on the campus just south of Bluff Road near the Fort Madison Middle School.

Construction of the building is estimated at $24.8 million with traffic safety upgrades and furnishings making up the additional $5.2 million.

The school district hired Carl A. Nelson Company out of Burlington to oversee the construction of the facility, which caused a backlash in the community because Fort Madison's Baxter Construction was not awarded the work on a 4-3 vote by the board.

Board members Dianne Hope, Brian Steffensmeier, and Jared Hotop voted for Baxter Construction, while board president Dr. Tim Wondra and board members Lois DiPrima, Carol Ross, and Gayla Young voted for Carl A. Nelson.

Absentee balloting has been going on for weeks and two satellite locations were set up, the first was at Fort Madison High School last Friday and will be held again this Friday at the Fort Madison Community Hospital's Foggy Conference Room on the administration side of the facility.

Lee County Election Administrator Nikki Sugars said more than 900 absentee ballots have been turned in as of Thursday morning.

"It's been pretty steady. And Friday we had 150 voters in six hours over at the high school," she said.

Voters have until April 1 to get absentee ballots mailed to the county auditor. Ballots can be hand delivered to the county through polling on April 2.

Voters have turned down proposed referendums on three previous attempts with the last attempt in the fall, coming in at 59.2%, just short of the state-mandated 60%-plus 1 supermajority.

Controvery sprung up over the referendum when Tony Baxter, president of Baxter Construction, released a statement through Baxter Foundation that he was pulling the foundation's support of district youth activities for 2019 to take a stand against against how the district handled awarding the construction manager contract.

"Since the School District has opted to disregard the plans presented by Baxter Construction, unnecessarily spend additional taxpayer money, and implement a program that does not benefit young athletes in the fashion proposed by Baxter Construction, the Foundation cannot continue to supplement the School District’s efforts to grow its youth sports programs; especially, when the District itself chose to ignore the presented plans and waste available financial resources," Baxter said in a previous story.

During the proposals to the board, Baxter also offered to work out a lump sum contract, which he said was never given consideration. In a previous article in the Pen City Current, Baxter said the decision was "a let down and wasteful spending".

He said he believes the community needs a new elementary school, but said there are more cost effective ways to get it done.

The district, in a release issued Wednesday, indicated they went with a company with more experience in school construction.

"The district has also engaged a construction manager with over 15 employees that have deep ties to the district, and extensive experience with educational facilities to help manage costs and construction."

The district held a meeting Feb. 4 with about 100 community residents and at that meeting indicated they wanted new ball fields left out of the proposal, but would spend extra to increase traffic efficiencies and safety at the campus on 48th and Bluff Road.

According to the release, that session set the focus for the new bond.

"The session’s primary focus was on costs and finding a plan that the community would support. The overall consensus of the group was that the project needed to focus only on the absolute needs of the district which was a new elementary, and additional resources for traffic and site safety."

The release also indicated the district wanted to build on current successes but aging facilities was a drag on that momentum.

"The biggest challenge our district faces is that of our aging facilities. Our two oldest schools Richardson Elementary (100 years old) and Lincoln Elementary (84 years old) houses over 33% of our students. They were built when technology, safety, and modern 21st century education were not a concern. Updating and maintaining these two facilities far exceed costs of other options."

The district will carry $30 million debt service on the building if approved, which, according to its proposed property tax levy for 2019-2020, would carry a $2.70/$1,000 assessed valuation on tax statements.

The current total property tax rate proposed by the district for the next fiscal year is $14.60/$1,000, an increase of .16 over the current year's $14.44 rate.

The district, in its release, spelled out the benefits of the new building:

-All 600 of our youngest students would be provided a modern educational facility

-Pre-kindergarten program would be added to district curriculum

-Facility would be open Fall 2021

-The district’s intent would be to sell existing schools to interested parties for repurposing

-District-wide busing and transportation would be provided to all PK-8 grade students

-Overall budget not to exceed $30 million

-Cost to the average homeowner will be $8.33 a year (100k assessed value)

-Cost per acre on average will be $0.18 cents a year