The Odin School Board has moved both forward and backward on plans for a new high school.
The board Monday night agreed to move forward on the issuance of a $1.35-million bond issue that would be paid off from proceeds the district is receiving from its share of the one-cent sales tax being collected for Marion County schools. Bernardi Securities was selected to lead the board through the underwriting project.
Superintendent Kimberly Briggs says a public hearing will be held at next month’s meeting to gain public input.
“We are moving forward with the bonds to take advantage of the low percentage rate to put along with our federal [COVID relief] money to look at what we can do to improve the building as a whole and decide where the money needs to go.”
Briggs says they would have three years to spend the proceeds from the bond issue. She anticipates $2.85-million in federal COVID relief money can also be put towards any project.
But what the project will include is back to square one as the school board voted not to move forward with plans with its current architect Lunsford.
Briggs feared their funding proposal would put the school in jeopardy and relied on a matching funds state program for which the district is no longer on the list.
Briggs is asking the board to study all options on moving the project forward from using a new architect, performance management, or contract managers. She also wants to relook at the current three-story high school building.
“We want to look at that, maybe there’s a hybrid approach. Maybe there are parts we can save, maybe not. I think we need to look at that knowing what money we have and doing what’s best for the district.”
Lunsford Architects had indicated the three-story high school only had a limited lifetime left due to structural issues.
