The Greene County board of education at its Sept. 17 regular meeting took another step toward new construction at the high school location. The board approved a contract with Shive-Hattery Inc of West Des Moines for pre-design services in advance of putting a bond issue on a ballot.
A long range facilities study committee was appointed by the board in May of 2013. The committee met several times and toured buildings that had multi-grade configurations. Members of the committee were Cara Reedy, Dawn Rudolph and Amanda Schroeder from the Scranton area; Kathy Bravard, Todd Hansen and Tanner Stauffer of the Jefferson area; Maleea Gannon, East Greene board member David Tipton and Jenny Wessling of the Grand Junction/Rippey area; teachers Nancy Kaufman, Dean Lansman and Patti Edwardson; and Greene County school board members Sam Harding, Susan Burkett and Jeff Lamoureux.
The committee’s recommendation was that the Greene County school district have two attendance centers. Both would be in Jefferson. The committee suggested adding four or five classrooms to the existing elementary school, remodeling the current high school to accommodate grades 5-8, and adding new high school space. There would be a common cafeteria and gymnasium between the 5-8 portion and the 9-12 portion of the building.
The contract calls for an hourly rate paid to Shive-Hattery, not to exceed a total of $28,500. Shive-Hattery will gather information from the committee, prepare a limited schematic design and a 3D rendering of the proposed construction, and develop cost estimates. Shive-Hattery will also provide the board with information and services in support of a ballot referendum.
According to superintendent Tim Christensen, the renovation of the Grand Junction building was intended to serve for five to 10 years. That was three years ago. “We don’t know when a bond issue would be passed. It may not be passed on the first attempt. It’s time to start the process… To me the initial process is getting the ball rolling,” he said.
Sam Harding has worked in commercial construction for many years. “For what they’re doing, this is a really good price,” he said about Shive-Hattery’s fees.
There was no discussion or indication in the proposal of how long it will take Shive-Hattery to complete the pre-design phase. The proposal was prepared by Mark Allen, a Shive-Hattery project architect who made a presentation at the board’s August meeting. Shive-Hattery did the design work on the addition to the elementary school seven years ago.
Allen provided a very rough estimate of $10-$15 million for the total project involving both the elementary and the 5-12 building.
The pre-design costs will come from the district’s PPEL and SILO funds.
