Cloverdale school construction stays under budget

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

CLOVERALE -- The $1.4 million construction project at Cloverdale Community School Corporation is making progress while remaining under budget.

Superintendent Greg Linton updated the school board Monday night at the regular meeting with information provided by Project Manager Dan Sulkoske with Kramer Companies.

The high school parking lot is complete with the drainage system in place. Asphalt is complete and the lot has be restriped. Milling and paving is set to begin Aug. 17.

"There are a number of places we did run into subgrade issues with the soil where we had to bring in more stone that we thought we would. The asphalt project is probably at this point running over budget about $10,000, but the overall project is under budget -- over $150,000 under budget," Linton said.

Linton previously expressed concerns about traffic delays due to continuing construction as students started school Monday, but he said with the help of teachers and staff there were no issues and few delays.

"Minus a considerable amount of congestion due to the project, parents and staff and transportation leaders helped out immensely," Linton stressed.

Some other the projects included in the project are already complete, including the high school gym speaker system, high school gym floor and removal of the old cooling units.

The cabinets set to replace the former, large cooling units are currently being fabricated and are expected to be installed in October.

Danco Roofing is still on schedule to start the middle school roofing project in September, while the new fence and gates at the bus parking lot are expected to be started in mid-September with an October completion date.

As a cost-cutting measure, the contractor will be using manual openers for the three fence gates. Linton said if this causes an issue in the winter, the installation of the electric gates may be considered.

Linton said the combination of weather delays and a saturated market had caused minimal delays as contractors are working with other jobs as well.

Meanwhile, Linton explained to the board what to expect with the upcoming budget preparation.

The board will meet in special session Sept. 1 to hold a public hearing on the budget. Linton stressed the community is invited to provide input on the budget for the 2015-16 school year.

At the Sept. 14 meeting, the budget will be presented to the school board with a recommendation for approval.

Linton noted the school is anticipating a $1.3 million loss in revenue over the course of the next two years due to state budget cuts. Also, the average daily membership (ADM), on which the state bases school funding, has decreased by 223 students from the 2005-06 school year.

In an effort to combat the issues caused by the changes, the board has reduced several positions and voted not to create new certified positions paid by the General Fund. While the teacher contracts are still in negotiation, the school anticipates no salary increases.

Despite cost-cutting measures, the school still faces an increase to group insurance by 13 percent in 2016, an increase in property and casualty insurance by 10 percent each year and an increase in utilities by 10 percent each year.

"We always underestimate revenue and overestimate expenditures to capture as much (of the tax rate) as possible," Linton explained, noting the school will not receive any more than the Department of Local and Government Finance approves.

The projected tax rate is $2.196 with a levy of $4,502,502.

In other business, the board:

* Approved the hire of Garry Porter as bus driver and Lori Halloran as a middle school teacher.

* Approved the resignation of Glee Kerr as elementary/middle school treasurer, Mark Couch as bus driver, Sharon Freeman from elementary/middle school cafeteria, Regina Walton as middle school teacher, Donna McFadden as part-time high school custodian and Trenton Lucas as Knoy Program director.

* Approved Deb Atwood as high school cheerleading coach, Matthew Langdon as high school girls' golf coach, Andy Tyler as high school coed cross country coach, Brad Szczberbik as junior varsity football coach, Michael Nees as varsity assistant football coach, Dave Zorman as varsity assistant football coach, Tyrone Scott as varsity assistant football coach, Kathy Moore as high school head volleyball coach, Kristen Ferran as junior varsity volleyball coach, Dave Kiley as varsity volunteer assistant football coach, Mike Parks as varsity volunteer assistant football coach, Bambi Burton as middle school cheerleading coach, Sam Brown as fifth and eighth-grade coed cross country coach, Traci Scott as seventh-grade volleyball coach, Megan Puckett as eighth-grade volleyball coach, Marshall Adams as seventh-grade football coach, Tony Evans as eighth-grade football coach, Shawn Mattingly as seventh and eighth-grade assistant football coach, Bill Roberts as seventh and eighth-grade volunteer assistant football coach, Chad Koosman as fifth and eighth-grade volunteer assistant cross country coach, Tish Combs as middle school girls' cheer assistant and Crystal Dean as volunteer girls' cheer assistant.

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