School board hires ICON for second gymnasium architectural work, Prairie Engineering for boiler

At the last school board meeting, the NR-S board charged Superintendent Jill Louters to negotiate a contract with the preferred architectural firm for the second gymnasium project, ICON Architectural Group, LLC. At the June 14 meeting, board member Mike Jacobson invited Kyle Kvamme and Allie Stevens from ICON to give a brief presentation to help educate the board on the Scope of Work Contract placed in front of them. ICON has worked with over 100 schools in the North Dakota area offering fundraising support, location considerations, economy of projects and working project timelines. ICON is very familiar with the special needs, when building a facility for a school, and showed examples of several completed gym projects.

The Scope of Work Contract between NRS and ICON stipulates that the Phase I Concept Design will be completed by September 1, 2021. This will provide a platform for further, more robust fundraising campaigns to move forward with enhanced promotional material, including digital tools. Fundraising efforts by ICON are expected to be complete by December 31, 2021, with construction commencing in the spring of 2022. This timeline is dependent upon successful completion of fundraising efforts and the construction market. ICON’s fee is 7.25% of the total construction project, which is estimated at around $100,000 based on a $1.4 million estimate. The entire contract can be viewed on the NR-S school website https://www.newrockford-sheyenne.k12.nd.us and is item C in the June 14, 2021 board packet.

Sheyenne district board member, Patti Larson, expressed concern about putting all the discretionary money the school has over the next 50 years into the second gym project. Ms. Larson brought up a “hypothetical” interest in developing a state of the art Vo-Ag facility in Sheyenne for students, and questioned the board; if they had to choose one project to fund, do they all feel “really strongly” that they would choose the second gym project over a state of the art Vo-Ag facility? Exiting board member David Holzwarth responded by saying he has “never ever” heard about the Vo-Ag Center in all the time they have been talking about a second gym. Larson is worried about the school’s focus with discretionary spending in the coming years. Mr. Holzwarth reminded the board of the cooperative agreement with Devils Lake for students interested in a Vo-Ag-related education.

Alyson Myhre interjected, noting that with her nine years of experience on the board, she is saddened when she says, “we have polled the students and there is not a ton of interest in this.” Myhre went on to say that in her 24 years of experience with her own children in extracurricular activities, she feels that a second gym is needed. Scheduling practices for music and sports has been a nightmare. If a Vo-Ag Department was developed, that would be wonderful, but unfortunately that would grab only a small group of kids. All the kids, and the entire community, will use the gym. Larson held strong in her belief that more industrial educational choices are needed for our students, in our facility, and that this is the direction she feels the board should go. Motion was approved to accept the Scope of Work Contract between NR-S and ICON, and Larson cast the only dissenting vote.

Next the board moved on to the boiler. As previously reported here, the building committee has met several times this year to prioritize projects within its scope of operation. Several projects have been considered, including roofing, flooring, and bus storage. However, due to material costs, the age of current equipment and additional concerns, the boiler system has been prioritized. The two units were installed in the 1960s. One runs off of natural gas, while the other uses an underground fuel oil source. However, last summer the underground fuel tank was removed. Currently, the district has a maintenance agreement with G & R Controls, who perform routine service and inspect the boilers. According to a variety of industry experts, the boilers have outlived their life expectancy. The school has received approximately $535,000 in ESSER III (COVID-19 relief) dollars, of which 20% must be set aside for learning enhancements. The remaining dollars may be used for a wide variety of projects, according to Louters. A new boiler system is one eligible project.

Prairie Engineering has been on site to review the building’s needs and has been referred to Louters by a vendor who works with cities and school districts. Because of the low anticipated cost of engineering services for this project, the school is not required to bid for this service. However, the school is required to bid the boiler replacement. The engineer's role is to design and build the specifications that will be included in the bidding documents for this project. Prairie Engineering is confident that both boilers can be placed into service for the next heating season. The engineering services are projected to cost $40,000, about 8% of the project’s anticipated $500,000 price tag, as covered in the Scope of Service agreement. Larson questioned if the timing was right for the boiler replacement, and asked if they would need to be expanded once the second gym was completed. After much discussion, it was decided to move forward.

The board also canvassed the results of the June 8 election at this meeting. Twenty-five votes were cast. Patti Larson, representing the former Sheyenne district, was re-elected to a three-year position with 23 votes. Mary Kay Price, representing the former New Rockford district, was re-elected to her position with 21 votes. Newcomer Todd Allmaras received 20 votes and was elected to the at-large post vacated by David Holzwarth. All candidates ran unopposed. There was one write-in candidate, Justin Ystaas, for Holzwarth’s vacating position. Also on the ballot was whether or not the New Rockford-Sheyenne Public School District #2 should publish a record of the proceedings of the school board meeting in the school district’s official newspaper, for the succeeding two years. That measure passed nearly unanimously, with 24 yes votes cast and only one no vote.

Open enrollment applications for six new students were approved by the board; they will enter grades K, 1, 3, 5 and 8 at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year.

The next school board meeting will be held in person on July 19 at 7 p.m.