Hills-Beaver Creek Superintendent Dave Deragisch leads a public forum in Hills Monday night in which roughly 30 showed up to learn more about the proposed high school locker room project.
By Jolene Farley
About 30 people attended a public forum and open house Monday for the locker room project at Hills-Beaver Creek High School. Some stayed for the forum, others left after touring the facility.
Voters will visit the polls Tuesday, March 11, to decide on the proposed $400,000 levy needed for the project.
At the forum, Superintendent Dave Deragisch presented the information to the crowd. He started with a history of the construction project, including the results of a 2000 survey in which 87 percent of respondents said the current locker rooms are inadequate.
"One of the things that had the most glaring deficiency in our school was our locker rooms," he said.
He talked of handicap accessibility problems with the current locker rooms including the stairs to the locker room, the shower stalls and the restrooms.
Deragisch also said the Minnesota Health and Safety Department requires air to be circulated throughout the locker rooms.
It would be difficult to meet these requirements without spending a sizable amount of money on a new HVAC system.
Another survey, sent out in December 2002, came back with 65 percent of respondents interested in the locker room project at a cost of $400,000.
Deragisch reiterated the proposed addition meets minimal Minnesota Department of Education requirements for new construction.
Minimum requirements include 1,500 square feet for each locker room with a 200-square-foot coach’s room available for each locker room and a 6-foot-wide hallway.
Location and materials
The addition would be located southeast of the high school gymnasium. The addition would be five feet from the fence line on the east side of the property and five feet from the sidewalk on the south side of the property.
The tennis court, the fencing around the tennis court, and some of the perimeter trees would have to be removed.
The building committee is leaning toward pre-cast concrete walls with sealed concrete floors. Interior walls would be constructed of cement block.
History of property taxes
Since 2001, the school portion of property taxes has been reduced. A $50,000 house in 2001 had an actual tax of $206. This same $50,000 market value home has a $112 tax for 2003.
A $600,000 market value homestead farm had an actual tax of $1,987 in 2001, while the same farm has an estimated tax of $651 for 2003.
Non-homestead land had a school property tax of $11.02 for an acre of land worth $2,000. This same parcel of land has an estimated tax of $3.65 an acre for 2003.
Deragisch also reiterated the fact that the board thinks it is wise to meet the minimum Department of Education requirements now instead of spending money in the near future to bring the locker rooms up to code when a new high school is built.
Question and
answer session
Deragisch opened up the meeting for questions from the audience.
Board member Ann Boeve told of an unofficial survey taken by Coach Tom Goehle of visiting girls’ basketball coaches. Goehle discovered only two teams in two years used the locker rooms.
"They go down and they put their sweats on and they go home," Boeve said.
The audience was curious when construction would start and end if the bond issue passed. Deragisch told them it would likely start in June and be completed six months after the start date. He said he would encourage an earlier start date if possible.
A resident asked about the length of the bond, which is 17 years. Deragisch said he wanted to keep costs under control for the district since residents are still paying on the elementary school.
Deragisch said if the project comes in under budget, the extra funds could be used for new bleachers or lighting in the high school gym.
Former Hills City Council member Wendell Bengtson asked if the school was still looking for some funding from the city for the weight room portion of the project.
Deragisch said he hopes the Hills City Council, school groups and some private businesses can contribute toward the equipment needed for the fitness center.
"I’m hoping to get it done without any use of school money," he said.
When asked if the fitness center would be open to the public, he said he hoped the school board would agree to that.
School Board Chairman Alan Harnack thanked everyone for attending the forum. "Don’t ever question … whatever we do it’s for what’s best for the kids," he said.
