Board slated to vote at Feb. 20 about facilities updates in district

Due to an absence, the Albert Lea School Board postponed an intended vote Monday on a resolution calling for a special May election to address facility updates.

The school board intends to vote Feb. 20 with a video chat in from a member who will be out of town or to set a special meeting date should the video chat not work out. Board Chairman Ken Petersen said the move was to ensure everyone had their input in the vote.

Conversation around a special May 8 election has arisen since the board began looking at options for updating athletic facilities at Hammer Complex after a community survey in October. Should it pass in a public vote, the project would utilize a 20-year general obligation building bond for upgrades estimated to cost $21 million. According to the resolution drafted for Monday’s meeting, the school board cannot borrow an aggregate amount exceeding approximately $24.6 million.

Albert Lea Superintendent Mike Funk said to move forward on schedule with construction in the spring of 2019, the district would have to pass the resolution calling for a special election by Feb. 23.

Petersen said the hope is to have the bond company come to the Feb. 20 school board meeting to discuss further how the bond would work.

“The board wants to make sure we have a handle on the taxes so that whatever we tell the public, that’s what’s going to happen,” Petersen said.

School Board member Jill Marin said she has heard from the public about whether the updated complex is more “grand” than necessary. School board member Angie Hanson had similar comments.

“I go back and forth myself, and I’m sure the community is going back and forth, too,” Hanson said. “I mean, it’s great to have an amazing facility, but is it OK to just have a great facility? I don’t know.”

School board member Neal Skaar said he is hesitant about making changes to the proposal put forth by the architects, and that he sees the facility as appropriate for meeting student needs.

“In my opinion, for us to second-guess those professionals who have put that package together and start to suggest, ‘Well, do we really need this? Let’s cut this out,’ I would be very reluctant to venture into that sort of cutting,” Skaar said.

Petersen said how the school board and community members view the facilities upgrade will depend on the family and community lenses they have.

“Everybody sees it differently, so I think the grand concept is what we have to look at,” he said.

Deputy Superintendent Lori Volz said the board’s involvement would be to pass the resolution, put together a broad project scope and, should the resolution pass in a special election, choose a proposed project bid.

“That is where the board is making that final determination of the construction,” Volz said of construction bids.

Petersen said he sees the facility upgrades putting the school board in a good position to avoid having to go back to the voters for facility needs in the near future.

“This is, in my opinion, one of the — the last huge need that’s facing our district, and so with completing this project, I think our district will be in a good spot,” Volz said.

In other action, the school board discussed the ag tax impact of the proposed 20-year general obligation building bond. Funk said that on an agricultural homestead with an average value per acre of land and buildings of $2,500, if the bond were not to pass, the tax rate would go down by one dollar per acre. If approved, the rate would remain as it is currently. For property owners whose land is not homesteaded, the tax rate would go down $2.01 an acre if the bond were not to pass and remain the same should it pass. Volz said the new ag credit has been factored in to these numbers.