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Parkview facing $5 million price tag

ORFORDVILLE — The price tag Parkview School District voters will face in April will be $5 million.

The Parkview School Board on Monday voted 5-2 to approve both a construction bid from Gilbank Construction and a referendum seeking up to $5 million to close Newark and Footville schools and bring those students to Orfordville.

The board approved a revised bid from Clinton-based Gilbank of $4.94 million to build an addition of 14 classrooms and a gym at Orfordville Elementary. The board downsized plans from a three-station gym to what was described as a gym for a single high-school-sized basketball court.

The board last week heard bid presentations from Gilbank, J.P. Cullen & Sons and Ringland-Johnson for classrooms and a three-station gym. The board ruled out Ringland-Johnson after last week's discussion.

Monday, the board considered a revised bid from Gilbank for the smaller gym and Cullen's bid of $6.7 million that included the larger gym.

The tax impact on $5.3 million—the original Gilbank bid—would be $234 each year for 10 years on a $200,000 home, Superintendent Steve Lutzke said.

The state aid formula, however, gives districts more aid when they spend more. With increased spending, Lutzke said the district would get more state aid.

The votes came after a wide-ranging discussion where residents and board members said they weren't comfortable with how fast the plan was moving.

Board member Craig Jones started the discussion by echoing residents' comments expressed earlier in the meeting.

"I don't want to rush into this. … If we make the mistake now, we're going to hear about it forever," he said.

He said he thinks the high school needs more attention now than the elementary schools, and that a new gym would make more sense at the high school.

Board member Elizabeth Brockwell said she agreed, and if enrollment keeps declining, she didn't want to see vacant, new classrooms at the elementary school.

Much of the discussion centered on the size and location of the gym.

Community members said some people support a high school gym, but not if it was to be built at the elementary school. Others said if the project moved forward, the community wouldn't support another building project at the high school in the future.

Just before the board's vote, Brockwell clarified: "If this is what we vote on, we are pretty much saying forget about the high school gym at this time?"

Board President Troy Knudson nodded yes.

The board went back and forth about seeking input from the community through a referendum or survey, the latter of which the district's long-range facility planning committee started last year. A survey was written but never sent out, and residents and board members on Monday weighed getting input against the impact of delaying a referendum decision.

Knudson spoke repeatedly on the need of the referendum to get an answer from voters sooner rather than later as the district faces a $592,000 deficit next year.

"I'm a little concerned if we walk away from this one," he said. "We just put it off for another year, and we find ourselves in the same spot we are now, a year later."

If the referendum fails, the board had one less option, he said. If the question isn't asked, he said, everyone is left wondering.