By Jolene Farley
At a Monday meeting, the Hills-Beaver Creek School Board approved payment of a $3,500 fee to Group II Architects, Sioux Falls, SD., to begin the process for new high school locker rooms.
The initial fee would cover three meetings with the building committee.
Those meetings would cover:
Developing a written program and designing the facility,
Preparing optional schematic design floor plans and exterior elevations,
Evaluating and comparing costs of various materials, preparing a written estimate of construction costs,
Evaluating the total project budget,
Preparing a written code analysis,
Evaluating the code impact on the existing facility and submitting the plans to the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning for review and comment.
The building committee met with representatives from the architectural firm Thursday, Oct. 3.
"I think they are going to be real workable people," said board member Ann Boeve.
"These people understand we want a quality building for the lowest dollar amount."
"WeÕre at the point were we need to find out how much itÕs (the project) going to cost," she said.
The building committee will continue to meet with the architectural firm to streamline the design of the facility, but state building codes will drive the decisions on the structure to some extent.
"You almost need an architect to work with the codes," said board member Gary Esselink.
Superintendent Dave Deragisch said he contacted local contractors about the project hoping to be able to save design fees, but the contractors werenÕt interested because of code issues.
In other financial news, the board will meet with the bonding company about refinancing the 1997 elementary school construction bond at a noon meeting Wednesday, Oct. 16.
Refinancing would save the district $71,000 to $91,000, after $27,000 in refinancing fees.
"ThereÕs costs involved, and we need to be aware of the costs," said Deragisch.
The district would not realize any savings on the refinancing until 2005.
In other business:
Luverne Rotary Club representative Al Berdahl presented the board with information on the One of a Kind Child Identification Program, a cooperative effort between Rotary Clubs International and ASFSA to educate parents and children about personal safety.
Students will be invited to an educational presentation at school on personal safety and later will be weighed, measured and digitally photographed by volunteers. Parents will be asked for written permission for their child to participate.
StudentsÕ vital statistics will be documented and returned for them to take the information home to their parents.
Parents will be encouraged to obtain a DNA sample from their children (for example, a lock of hair) and to keep the sample with the other information.
The program, for kindergarten through third grade, will be provided to the district at no cost. SchwanÕs, the Jacob Wetterling Foundation and Rotary Club will defray the cost.
"Go for it," said Boeve. "ItÕs wonderful."