Amount will remain at $55 million, which may reduce scope of projects

If voters approve a $55 million bond measure for Albany schools this fall, some projects will be reduced to cover the rest of them, school board members decided Monday.

Board members adopted a resolution to place the measure on the ballot for Nov. 7, and Superintendent Pat Bedore said the school district’s new informational campaign has begun.

The biggest project to be funded by a bond measure is a new school east of Interstate 5. Board members had estimated that cost to be about $16.9 million, but new figures from a school design committee place the estimate closer to $23.4 million.

That’s partly because the district has decided to make the building an 800-student school for grades 3-8, instead of a 750-student school that might have included the primary grades.

More students, and more middle-schoolers, means the building will need two gyms and a covered play area to have enough P.E. and sheltered recess-lunch gathering spaces, board members agreed.

The Boys & Girls Club of Albany is discussing the possibility of paying for one of the gyms, Business Director Russell Allen told the board. But even with its help, he said, the district needs to cut almost $5.5 million from other projects to make the bond work.

Board members agreed to reduce asbestos work, electrical upgrades, restroom renovations and heating/ventilation upgrades, among other projects. They also agreed to build just three new classrooms, instead of four, at both Tangent and North Albany Middle schools.

Project cost estimates, put together with the idea that voters would have passed the bond request this past May, also will be higher by the time the bond actually passes, Allen said. However, he did not figure higher estimates into the new project list, saying for now the district is relying on contingency budgets to cover the increases.

The school board has hired the architectural firm of Dull Olson Weekes to provide services, at a cost of about $1.5 million.

Bedore outlined the district’s plans to inform voters about the new bond measure, which include providing information at school open house nights, revising the district’s bond video and issuing stickers to district employees and board members that read, “Ask me about the bond.”

The bond’s political action committee, “Building Schools 4 Kids,” also is gearing up again, Wes Price told the board. Mailings, yard signs and plans for an Oct. 7 rally are in the works.

DEVELOPMENT

The Albany School Board on Monday backed off from its plan to ask the city of Albany to halt development on property east of Interstate 5, where the school district hopes to build.

The board had been concerned about how fast negotiations were progressing for the school site it wants in the 450-acre Brandis annexation in northeast Albany. Last month, it directed staff members to draft a resolution asking the city to stop issuing building permits there.

But after board members met Monday in executive session, closed to the public, Chairwoman Liisa Reid said the resolution wouldn’t be necessary.

“Based on updates we received in executive session, I do not at this time think we need to proceed with this,” she said.

Reid said the board hopes to have more information on negotiations after its next executive session, scheduled for Aug. 28.

Superintendent Pat Bedore said City Manager Wes Hare was of the opinion the city couldn’t halt development even if the district asked.

“He wasn’t sure the city could legally make any changes in agreements the city had with developers,” she said.

Tanya Durkee, president of Timber Hill Corp., which owns the site, has told the Democrat-Herald her family-owned firm has worked hard to move negotiations along.