By stacey wiedewitsch
Mille Lacs County Times

Eight people stuffed themselves into Milaca Public School’s Superintendent Barbra Zakrajsek’s small office early last week Tuesday, Oct. 14.

The discussion surrounded the recent facilities assessment done by Johnson Controls Inc. and an offer by Wes Siemers to sell the school some land. 

The assessment presented to the school board on July 14 stated that $8.2 million in repairs needed to be done to the school and the property. (A story on the meeting can be found in the July 24 issue of the Times or online at www.millelacscountytimes.com.)

This group, sitting in the office, was composed of Buildings and Grounds Committee Members Todd Quaintance, Aimee Struffert, Connie Patnode and Zakrajsek  and also included school board member Jody Chambers and two school staff members.

Its task was to analyze the information received from the state on available funding for the repairs and make suggestions on the next steps in the process.

Offer of land

Zakrajsek told the board members that Siemers had recently called her and offered to sell the school 160 acres of land he owns south of Milaca on Central Ave.

In addition, he offered to swap 40 acres of his land for the 40 acres the school district currently owns west of Milaca on Highway 23.

Siemers was offering to sell the land contract for deed to the school, as well.

“The swap option had some appeal,” said Zakrajsek. “Not that we are sitting here with a ton of money right now.”

No financial details were discussed between Siemers and Zakrajsek. They were just idea swapping.

“This isn’t something that would come together in the next month or so, but it seemed silly to not do anything,” she said.

The committee agreed and they decided to put this item on the next board agenda.

Facilities assessment

“The water intrusion type things, landscaping and tuck-pointing are all a no go,” said Zakrajsek.

The  state  did not allow the school district to finance the project through alternative facility bonds (AFB) or through the health and safety account to fix these items. They were regulated as capital expenses.

The heating systems upgrades for both the high school and the elementary were allowed by the state. The bill for the new systems is about $6.8 million, payable through the AFB process.

The bonds must be payable from the school tax levy, according to state statute. The residents of the school district will pay for the bond through the levy.

The committee decided to put this item on the next agenda and ask if Jeff Schiltz, a representative of Johnson Controls Inc., could come to the meeting and explain the process.

Other building items that were discussed included the elementary gym floor and the carpet in four fifth grade rooms that smells old and may have mold under them.

“These projects, the elementary gym floor, the water intrusion and the fifth grade hallway are all staring us in the face with no funds to pay for it,” said Zakrajsek. “But I feel like I have to go forward with the mold testing now.”

“Short of finding mold, I think that we should wait until we are redoing the rooms,” said Quaintance. “I don’t think that it makes sense to replace the carpet with tile without fixing the problem.”

These items were also placed on the next board agenda.

“I will set up a presentation with Ehlers and Associates and Johnson Controls Inc.,” said Zakrajsek. “We can get Kristin from Ehlers and Jeff from Johnson Controls to define the time line, how we could fix this, cost of project, etc.”

The Milaca School Board meets the third Monday of the month in the Milaca School Board Room at 6:30 p.m. The November meeting is not posted yet, however should be November 17.

School board meeting

At the regular school board meeting Monday, Oct. 20, several decisions were made to these items.

•The board passed the request from Zakrajsek to test the fifth grade classrooms for mold.

•It decided to allow Zakrajsek to enter into discussion with Siemers about his offer of selling the school land.

•The school board members decided to seek counsel with Ehlers Associates and Johnson Controls Inc. to get opinions on how to proceed with the building maintenance issues. The funding options for the school building’s water issues will be placed on a future agenda.



 

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