By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board voted Tuesday night to proceed with the purchase of the Oak Park Medical Complex at 2501 E. 13th St.
The 26,000-square-foot complex will be renovated using a $1.473 million federal grant for use by the Early Childhood Connections program.
The board authorized the purchase for no more than $2 million. HaysMed owns more than half of the interest in the building and has told the district it would discount the price, but an agreement has not been made on how much of a discount that will be, Superintendent John Thissen said Wednesday.
The district would like to pay for the purchase through a lease agreement over 10 years at $250,000 per year.
Thissen said he did not think the project would hamper other projects already budgeted with capital outlay funds or future maintenance projects within the district.
He said the district could use carry over in the capital outlay budget. The district will also be paying off a lease agreement within the next six years for additions to the middle school. This also will free up money that could be directed toward the project.
The ECC would move out of the former Washington Elementary School building on Main Street and the former Munjor school. Munjor would go back to the Catholic dioceses per contract. The board would have to decide what to do with Washington building, Thissen said.
The Washington building has had significant problems with the plumbing and sewer systems. The district spent about $15,000 to patch sewer leaks in the building last year. Students also had to be dismissed early one day because of sewer issues.
Washington is not ADA compliant. It has two floors and no elevator. Children can’t be housed on the second floor per a state statute. The concern is that small children would not be able to evacuate easily down stairs in case of an emergency.
“We have great concerns that facility is just not a healthy facility, and we can do better,” he said.
The district is also in need for more space to accommodate a growing Headstart program. The federal government is going to start requiring all-day classes for Headstart. The district has no more room in the former Washington building. Without this new building, the district would have to cut slots or move classes to the Munjor building, which would mean more parents would have to drive their students to that location.
The Washington building currently houses 122 students, and the Munjor infant and toddler program has 22 children.
ECC includes Parents as Teachers, Headstart, the 4-year-old At-Risk Program and Early Childhood Special Education. These programs serve all students in Hays, even those who go on to private school or who are homeschooled.
The district only learned it received the federal grant two weeks ago, but it is on a time crunch to use the money. Any project using the funds must be completed by June.
Although the district has been meeting in executive sessions for months about the purchase, several board members were concerned about the timing of the purchase and uncertainties that remain.
Board members Greg Schwartz and Lance Bickle voted against the purchase, and Luke Oborny abstained, making the vote 6-2-1.
Bickle said he would have liked to have seen an appraisal on the land before the board approved the purchase. He also was concerned about earmarking $250,000 for 10 years from the capital outlay fund for the purchase.
“I think we have enough buildings already, and we need to take care of those. I think we need to use that money in other areas,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
Because the lease agreement would be more than $100,000, there will be a 30-day window in which voters can file a protest petition. If more than 5 percent of voters sign that petition, the question would go for a district-wide public vote.
However, Thissen noted because of the tight time frame to use the grant dollars, a successful protest petition would mean the district would not be able to complete the project in the time stipulated by the grant and would have to forfeit the money.
USD 489 has had two failed bond issues in the last three years. Thissen said this is a way to address a building need without raising taxes.
“It really will make for better programming for the Early Childhood program,” Thissen said.