BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - The Bloomfield School Board voted 5-0 Tuesday night to obtain $595,000 in lease certificates to finance the district's portion for the construction of a FEMA saferoom on the campus. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $1,667,603.75 with FEMA picking up $1,101,077.81 of the tab. The district contribution is estimated to be $566,525.94, though these are preliminary estimates by project engineers Toth and Associates of Springfield, Mo.
Thomas Pisarkiewicz, vice president of L.J. Hart and Company in St. Louis, told the board that the lease certificates must be issued to a non-profit agency. He said it was not necessary for the board to set up a separate non-profit group, but rather the certificates could be issued through the Missouri Association of Rural Education (MARE). He said their fee would be $1,000 for the service. Pisarkiewicz said administrative and other costs associated with the financing would leave the district with a total of $566,950 to pay on their portion of the building.
Cybil Paris, analyst with L.J. Hart, took over and presented the board with two options for repayment of the lease financing. The first option called for a 15-year finance period starting in 2013 with annual payments on the principal and interest which would be levelized over that period. The first two years of repayment would be $150,000 with the annual payment moving to $57,000 per year after that. The second option would postpone any principal payments until 2016 and keep the annual payments between $65,000 and $70,000 per year. The initial payment would be around $100,000 and then "drop down" according to Paris.
"The interest expense would go up as a result," Paris told the board.
Pisarkiewicz noted that under the second option the lease certificates currently being repaid by the district on work to the gymnasium would expire by the time they would begin to repay principal on the new lease. He said the loss of that payment would offset what the new payment would be.
Pisarkiewicz told the board that the district interest paid under option one would be around $197,285 while it would be $233,948 under option two.
Dr. Nicholas Thiele, superintendent of the district, said the estimates by the engineers were probably high, but there was no way to know what the project would cost until it was bid. He said the cost of materials fluctuate. Thiele said Brian Orr, P.E., told him that it would be safer to use the higher cost in determining the financing.
"If it is less, we can reduce it," Thiele said.
Pisarkiewicz said the district really needed to know the cost before purchasing the lease. He said it would be expensive to come back and seek more money after the certificates were issued.
Thiele then recommended that the board approve option two. He said because of the "uncertainty of school financing" the next couple of years it would be a good idea to postpone principal payments. He said the higher payments under option one could make it difficult on the district.
Board Member David Cooper asked Pisarkiewicz, "Can we pay more than the interest and that go toward the principal?"
Pisarkiewicz responded that there were no penalties for early payoff, though under option two there would be no payments on principal until 2016. At that time, when the gym lease expires, all payments made by the district above the required would go toward principal.
"Do we need to make a decision tonight?" Cooper asked.
"Yes," Thiele responded.
Board Member Ryan Mayo made a motion to approve issuing the lease certificates using option two. It was approved by a 5-0 vote with Cooper, Mayo, Board President David Battles, Bill Robison and John Newell present. Board Members Trevor Pulley and Don Lafferty were not present.
Newell then reported on attending the Missouri School Board Association conference. He said topics discussed included accidental violations of the state Sunshine Law, negotiating superintendent contracts, bullying, smartphones and sexting, teachers and facebook (he said the legislature left control of that at the local level but may revisit it in the next session), background checks on new employees and open enrollment. He also said Gov. Jay Nixon said state funding for schools "would be flat next year".
The board voted 5-0 to spend up to $8,000 for acoustic panels and sound baffles in the gym. The board approved the purchase and installation of a new sound system and improved acoustics in the gym at a cost of $42,858 at their September meeting. Shivelbine's in Cape Girardeau was awarded the contract. Thiele said the speakers have been installed at each of the stage, hardware has been installed, and wiring is underway. He said the big items remaining are the connections and acoustic materials.
Thiele said the district could buy acoustic panels through a state purchase contract that would meet the requirements at $44.15 each. He said sound baffles were also needed. These would hang from the gym rafters and stop sound echoes. He estimated it would take around $7,000 to $8,000 to buy the items needed.
Thiele said the district had considered constructing their own acoustic panels, and it would be cheaper. Thiele said Shivelbine's was concerned that these panels would not meet the needed acoustic requirements and would not include hardware. He noted that the panels through the state contract came in an assortment of colors so that it could be made attractive in the gym.
Cooper added that the homemade ones would be a fire safety issue if they were made from foam. The ones proposed were treated with fire retardant.
Thiele said school personnel could install the tiles and baffles. He said they work in the rafters on a regular basis and the materials were easy to install.
He recommended that they approve up to $8,000 for the materials with the understanding that more could be added as funds became available.
Mayo made a motion to approve the purchase, and it passed.
Thiele said something needed to be done about the roof on the building that houses the bus garage, choir and art classes. He said it leaks, and all efforts to stop it have been unsuccessful. He said he believes wind coming off the baseball field blows up the shingles, and no amount of caulk will keep them down. He asked for permission to get some prices on installing a metal roof on the building.
Cooper asked whether the life of the building justified spending money on a roof. The building is one of the oldest on campus, Cooper said, and has been a source of many problems.
Thiele said the board had discussed moving choir and art classes to other locations in their five year plan, but the classroom move was slated for a couple of years in the future.
Robison asked Thiele get some estimates on the metal roof and also present some plans for moving the classes to other locations in the near future. Thiele said he would get that together and present it at the next board meeting.
In executive session the board approved Victorial Beller, Larry Carney and Emily Goodin as substitute teachers. The district has received three applications for the position of superintendent for 2012-13. Applications will be taken through Nov. 10 with anticipated hiring date of Dec. 12, said Thiele Wednesday morning. Thiele announced his retirement at the last meeting. The position is being advertised through DESE and will be advertised in other publications. No time line has been announced on the hiring. Thiele will leave at the end of the fiscal year which is June 30, 2012.