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When the Watonga School Board met in regular session March 9, the agenda held several items that were far from regular.
Twice before the district had gone to bid for a - rebuild on its concession stand, currently a modest white block building on the west side of the football field. In both those instances, the bids came back at more than the board felt it could spend. This attempt, with the bids opened Feb. 19, posted similar numbers.
“This is pretty much what the project costs,” said Tom Barczak of BWA architects. “We had 63 bids in 14 packages.” Those bids included numbers from Steven’s Carpets in Watonga as well as from businesses in Fairview, Woodward and Alva.
The costs for the concession stand came in at $454,137, including a 10 % contingency in case there are unforeseen expenses such as water line location services or undersized water service lines. If that 10 % is unused, or anything comes in under budget, it will be returned to the district by the project manager, Joe D. Hall.
The board was unanimous in its support for a remodel/upgrade to rest rooms at the middle school. The cost of that project came in at $213,064. “If the restrooms aren’t done, soon it will become an ongoing maintenance issue,” Superintendent Mark Batt told his board. There is already one restroom that is out of service because of plumbing issues that have evaded solution. Hopes are that during remodel of the restrooms across the hall, the problem with that restroom will be discovered and solved.
But the concession stand project was a little more contentious. Board member Lane Edsall was leery of using funds that might be needed in an economic downturn. Batt explained the projects could use $150,000 out of the general fund and $500,000 out of the building fund, leaving $500,000 in the building fund.
“I think we should keep talking about it,” Edsall said. “It’s a building we use maybe six times a year. I don’t think we can afford to drop a halfmillion bucks in it.”
His concerns were that the district, faced with a hard hit in gross production receipts a tax paid by oil and gas exploration companies on the natural resources they remove from the ground in this county — could need those dollars to put toward maintenance, utilities or insurance for the existing buildings. There are limited items for which building funds can be tapped.
That was the point made bythorized by statute or the state auditors. board member Aaron Clewell. He noted the school was seeing an increase in ad valorem taxes — a kind of property tax — and although it wasn’t enough to replace the lost gross production money, it was a steady income stream. And, he said, no matter what the need was, money from the building fund could not be siphoned off into the general fund for uses unauthorized by statute or the state auditors.
When the matter came to a vote, Edsall was the lone dissent, meaning the motion passed 4-1. The concession stand project is expected to cost $454,137 and be completed by the time the football season kicks off in August.
Connie Burcham can be reached at Editor@WatongaRepublican.com