By GARRETT SAGER
Hays Post
On Monday at the Rockwell Administration Center, Hays USD 489 Superintendent John Thissen spoke on more details relating to the bond issue campaign and the timeline that has been put into place.
The busy week starts now for USD 489 as the Board of Education officially approved the contract of DLR Group, the architectural firm hired to handle the new bond issue for the district.
With the approval of the contract, DLR will have representatives spending time at every building in the district for the rest of week. The purpose of the visits is to get to know the district, become familiar with every building and to assess needs.
A $94 million bond issue designed to fund facilities improvements was overwhelmingly defeated last summer by USD 489 patrons.
Thissen shared the timeline at the meeting on Monday, but mentioned it was finalized and shared two weeks ago.
The timeline shows seven different meeting categories grouped together starting Thursday, Feb.2, and lasting until Tuesday, May 16.
Each meeting day, there will be three separate meetings involving three different groups, each having their one job in mobilizing at bond issue to give it its best chance to pass.
“The work starts now,” Thissen said. “It is important that the individuals assigned to these different groups show up as many times as they possibly can with there only being seven total meetings.”
The different teams are District Executive Team, District Planning Team and District Vision Team.
One of the key dates on the timeline is in March, Thissen said.
He said that, by March, DLR Group hopes to have three options to use as potential plans for a bond issue and then present them to community members to get a feel on which option would best serve the community and has the best chance on passing.
The next important date comes the last month of the school year in May when DLR hopes to have the options narrowed down to one that could then be presented on and voted on in November.
“The hope is to have something ready to vote on by November, but if that does not work, they are looking at January of next year,” Thissen said.
DLR officials have told Thissen they will not move too quickly with the bond proposal as they are committed to getting it passed.
“They don’t want to force it,” Thissen said. “So if that means they believe the best option is that we move on into January of next year for a vote, then that’s what we will do.”
DLR has a vested interest in the bond passage.
“The way the contract is actually written is that they only get paid if they are able to get a bond issue to pass,” he said
The board also approved Performance Solutions as the new Facility Improvement Planner, which would be used to map out needed upgrades should the bond issue fail.
Lance Bickle, board president, opened up the discussion by saying he knows there are questions on overlapping spending.
Sarah Rankin, board vice president, raised the same concern. She made a motion to table the issue for up to six months until the board could get a clearer picture of what the Facility Improvement Planner would actually do.
However, the motion failed 5-1 in favor of moving forward with the plan of hiring a Facility Improvement Planner. It was later passed 5-1 to name Performance Solutions to the position.