HERNDON -- The Line Mountain School District will forward plans to renovate and add on to two of its schools to the state Department of Education.
School board members voted 6-1 Tuesday night to take the next step in the district's construction plans, which need state approval before they can award contracts for the roughly $22 million project. Board members Bryan Buddock and Robin Rebuck were absent from the meeting.
Joshua Bower, project manager with Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, said the firm's engineer has submitted plans to the county for approval but has yet to hear back.
Bower said it would be wise for the district to wait until it has all the necessary local approvals, minus the state's approval, before it seeks bids.
The district can bid the project out before it gets the OK from the Department of Education, he said, but must wait until it has state approval to enter into a construction contract or risk losing reimbursement money.
The plans call for 50,000 square feet of additions and renovations to the high school and renovations to the Trevorton Elementary School. The project would move all of the district's fifth- and sixth-graders to the Trevorton building, while Leck Kill and Dalmatia elementaries would house strictly kindergarten through fourth grade.
Board member Lauren Hackenburg provided the lone "no" vote and voiced her opposition to the project before voting.
"With the constituents I represent, I have not found a single person who is in favor of the projects at hand," she said, mentioning that most people were upset with the tax increase necessitated by the project and the exclusion of the Leck Kill and Dalmatia buildings.
"People are genuinely concerned about how much (their taxes) have been, are and will continue to go up," she said. "While to some a little bit each year may not seem significant, to the many that are on a fixed income, money is going to be very tight with this economy."
Bower said the district plans to renovate Leck Kill and Dalmatia at some point, but the project was broken up because doing four buildings at once would have been too big an undertaking.
Hackenburg said she spoke with several residents, who also were concerned the rising cost of fuel would make it substantially more expensive to bus fifth- and sixth-graders all the way to Trevorton.
However, Superintendent David Campbell said about 90 percent of the district's bussing costs are reimbursable. He also strongly supported the concept of bringing all the district's fifth- and sixth-graders together.
"I believe it utilizes the space we have and team teaches in the way we need," he said.
Jodi Lenker, of Dalmatia, voiced her concerns about the tax increase and said she spoke for a number of other residents who are "truly fearful of the financial future of this district. What happens if people honestly can't pay their taxes? Is there a back-up plan?"
Lenker and a friend, Rena Maurer, also of Dalmatia, were the only residents at the meeting, but said many people felt the same way.
"I know they're not here, but they truly feel their voices aren't heard," Maurer said.
Bower said he would like to be able to put the project out for bid by the district's next meeting on July 15.
n E-mail comments to rscott@dailyitem.com.
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