ELY – ISD 696 officials will receive a major update Monday on the building and facility renovation project that is headed toward a completion deadline this fall.
School board members will meet with the general contractor and architects on March 28 to review the construction timeline that calls for the project to be completed by the day after Labor Day, the first day of the 2022-23 school year. Additional funding options required to meet a budget shortfall on the $20 million project are expected to be discussed.
Interim Superintendent John Klarich told board members last Monday that all the concrete is poured for the project, and the roof should have been finished last week.
“They are getting set up to start putting up the walls,” he said. Brick layers and wall stud builders were on site Monday morning as work continued.
District facilities manager Tim Leeson said the music room and practice walls are done and some of the connecting walls between the new construction and the Memorial and Washington buildings are almost ready for sheet rock.
Klarich said that he wants any construction change orders for the rest of the project to be in front of school board members.
“I would like you to see them first to give me some direction,” he said. “I don’t want to approve anything without approval, unless it is an emergency-type thing and then I will be consulting with Tim and the facilities committee. I want to get more information in your hands to keep you more updated,” he told the board.
Officials from Kraus-Anderson and Architectural Resources Inc. are scheduled to attend the meeting Monday night. “They will speak to any issues and answer any questions about change orders and how the building is coming,” Klarich said. “We will have some financial updates as well.”
Klarich updated the board on state legislative efforts for additional funding for the project which has experienced numerous cost overruns.
“We are working with (Ely Clerk-Treasurer) Harold Langowski and the Costin Group (the school district’s lobbying firm) and something is being heard about sales tax.”
Elementary principal Anne Oelke was scheduled to testify last week before state lawmakers on financial relief for the district.
“We have our fingers on several bills in the legislature that are under discussion,” Klarich said. “We are also moving forward on some federal bills, with help from Harold and also the Costin Group, to get some help for our water lines and fire hydrants, and to get some help for some of these additional costs that are coming.”
Klarich caught some people off guard when he said, “The goal is to get the entire project done within a couple of years. That means the remodeling of the Washington and Memorial buildings is now on hold because of the cost overruns with inflation.”
He noted that the state legislative bill that Oelke was going to testify for dealt with the increased construction costs due to recent inflation spikes.
In most funding lobbying efforts, Ely is linked with other regional school districts that have experienced similar construction project challenges, Klarich added.
“The new elephant in the room is going to be surcharges on fuel and what additional costs that will bring to us, too. They (Costin Group) have had some time to get some things squared away and hopefully we will have plenty of tough questions about where we are going (moving) forward, and where we are at financially.”
The renovation was about $4 million over budget last year following initial project bidding, and construction and school officials continue to work to reduce the overall cost with project design savings and to look for additional funding. The project is partially funded by a $10 million bond referendum approved by district voters two years ago.
The project includes a new facility that will include a second gymnasium, cafeteria and commons, industrial arts and music education classrooms, new media center and district offices that link the 100-year-old Washington and Memorial buildings.