Updates from our Superintendent, Mr. Jim Reiter

August - 2005

Construction update:

I have the following construction updates to share with you at this point in time. the new school complex is anticipated to be water tight by August 31st. By water tight we mean that all outside walls and roofs should be in place. The major emphasis from around Labor Day Weekend until the day we move in to the complex will be on interior finish work and outside site work. The project continues to run with very few problems and ahead of the initial construction schedule. the projected finish date was established for May 1. 2006 and we continue to feel confident by that we shall finish ahead of that date by several months. It has been determined that it is not possible to have this project completed by Christmas which had been a rumor. We believe that we shall be able to predict the actual completion date for the OSFC Project some time around Thanksgiving vacation. We promise to keep you informed of our construction progress on a monthly basis.

The phase II Construction Project is just getting under way ($1,800,000 voted in May of 2005). Peterson construction is in the process of preparing to pour footers for the four classroom addition to be placed on the West end of the elementary wing. In addition, we have begun work on the underground tiling of the new athletic fields. As soon as the tiling project is complete we will begin to survey the locations for the new athletic fields. We also plan to plant the new football field in late August or early September. Beilharz Architects is in the process of preparing out two remaining bid packages for the Phase II Project. The next bid package will be for the 10,000 square foot athletic outbuilding. The athletic building will be located at the southeast edge of the football complex and it will be a prefabricated metal building. The last bid package will be comprised of the bus enclosure, track, football stadium, baseball field, and the softball diamond. Again, I will keep you informed of our monthly progress on the Phase II Construction Project.

May - 2005

Construction update:

Things continue to go very well at the new school construction site. Community members driving by the site are witnessing the school taking final shape. In less than 30 work days the vast majority of the school walls and supporting structural steel shall be in place. In the next two weeks the elementary gym floor and the new school cafeteria floor will be poured. Beilharz Architects of Defiance, Ohio anticipates having the bid specifications ready by June 1st for the four additional classrooms that were approved on the May 3rd Primary Election Day. In the very near future, Lingvai Excavating will begin the process of inserting the drainage tile system for the new athletic fields and playground area. We anticipate that bid specifications for the athletic complex facilities should be ready to go out for bid in early July. As always, if you have any questions about the construction project or any other school related matter, please do not hesitate to call Superintendent Reiter at 419-264-5141.

What an exciting year the 2004-05 school year has been for Holgate, Ohio residents. Our best wishes for a safe and happy summer vacation for all of the staffs and students of the schools in the Henry County Area.

April - 2005

This is an exciting period of time for Holgate School District residents. We are just five weeks away from completing our last full school year in our old school complex at 103 Frazier Avenue. Next year we plan to move out prior to the actual completion of the school year. The students are becoming more enthusiastic by the day as the building continues to take shape at our new address out on SR #18. Take over date for the new school is scheduled for May 1, 2006. Currently we are ahead of schedule and if things continue to go well that could mean an earlier than planned move date next year (perhaps at the Easter break or earlier). Of course, good weather and lack of storm damage are required for us to complete the project ahead of schedule.

I would like to remind the voters that we are on the ballot for Tuesday, May 3, 2005 with the 3.0 Building Bond Issue to consolidate all of our facilities on one 50 acre site. I feel the need to remind voters again of the reasons for this building bond issue. The major emphasis of our request is to add four elementary classrooms back on to the new school complex. I would like to remind the community that classrooms were cut from the project to get it under budget in the last bid process. In total, the new school project was bid three times prior to the awarding of contracts. In addition those cost overruns consumed the $630,000 that Holgate Schools had set aside to help relocate the athletic fields. The $630,000 has been consumed as our required 18% matching share of the budget increased during the three separate bid processes ($15,500,000 up to $19,300,000). Consequently, we have been forced to turn back to our voters for a 3.0 Building Bond Issue to complete our school complex.

In addition to the four classrooms it is our plan to construct the following items with the remainder of the $1,800,000 raised by the building bond issue: a football stadium, an athletic outbuilding (locker rooms, restrooms, storage, a weight room area, and concession stand), a bus enclosure, a baseball field, a track, and a softball field. Portions of these facilities will be bid as alternates to guarantee that we stay under budget. The athletic department and our booster organizations are working on plans to provide donations and volunteer labor to assist us in being able to construct all of the items on our list.

Over the next week final efforts will be made by Holgate School's Levy Committee to contact residents personally to answer questions and to provide information. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to call the superintendent or a Board of Education Member in order get your questions answered. We sincerely hope that you will choose to support our efforts to locate and build all facilities on one school site. The one site concept will bring a wide range of opportunities for community programs to use the school facilities when they are not being utilized by school programs.

I just had an excellent opportunity to engage in dialogue with Senator Randy Gardner while he visited Bowling Green University. I would like to share some of that discussion with you regarding the new State of Ohio Budget that will be approved in the next 5 - 8 week period of time. The Ohio House of Representatives has completed work on their version of the budget and it has been turned over to the Ohio Senate for them to work on their proposed modifications to the budget. The Ohio House plan calls for no Ohio School District to receive less than it received in the prior year. The representatives have also suggested that the new budget contain authority to allow a certain number of mills to grow with inflation as opposed to those mills being fixed to an amount at a point in time. The house budget also allows a total budget of $81,000,000 for charter and community schools. This budget would allow the number of charter schools in Ohio to increase in number. Current proposed legislation may require schools districts to have a statewide health care pool that could save school districts more than 200 million dollars statewide. I encourage you to contact your State Representative, Jim Hoops and/or your State Senator, Lynn Watchman to express your opinions. If you remain silent all of these decisions will be made for you without your input.

There are several other proposals floating around Columbus, Ohio including one by Bryan Flannery that wants to cut property taxes by 40% and then ask the state to fund education via other available tax dollars. Governor Taft is also exerting a great deal of influence to decrease business and corporate taxes to promote economic growth throughout Ohio. Governor Taft has proposed a phase out of the corporate franchise tax and another phase out of the tangible personal property tax. The phase out of these two taxes is favored by many Ohio Corporations. On the other hand, many Ohio school districts rely on monies from the tangible and personal property taxes to help operate their schools. There is talk of decreasing the state income tax on your personal income by 21%. However, new taxes are proposed on electricity, trash disposal and a doubling of the tax on alcohol in Ohio. The budget also contains a new tax called the CAT (Commercial Activities Tax) which is intended to be a low rate tax on a business's gross receipts and not on their profits. Critics of the CAT say it will hurt the creation of jobs in Ohio. Revenues from the CAT are expected to replace and increase those revenues previously provided by the tangible personal property and the corporate franchise tax.

In conclusion, this would be an excellent time for you to pay close attention to the happenings in Columbus, Ohio because this new budget that features major tax reform issues shall affect your wallet and your life a great deal.

March - 2005

The school community is eagerly awaiting the arrival of our Easter Weekend Break. We are also eagerly awaiting the arrival of warmer weather and permission to put the snow shovels back in to the basement for the next eight months. Basketball has ended and our students have begun spring sports practices in preparation for the first track meet and baseball game.

Congratulations to the boys' basketball team for advancing to the regional tournament for the fifth consecutive year. Paul Wayne, Ron Engel, and the volunteer coaching staff are to be congratulated for their tremendous outcomes over the past five years. Our cheerleaders, girls' basketball players, and boys' basketball players did a very nice job in representing Holgate Schools throughout the winter months. The music and drama departments have plenty to be proud about due to their latest accomplishments. Our band received a #1 rating at contest and as a result they are eligible for State

Contest coming up next month. Congratulations to Mrs. Draime and all of the Tiger Band members. In addition, Mrs. Buchholz, has been hard at work presenting concerts and preparing for the middle school music (Dear Edwina) scheduled for April 7-8th. We encourage you to come out to support our middle school musical and our spring sport athletes.

Enclosed in this newsletter you will find the beginning handbills for our campaign to pass our second Building Bond Issue. One of the handouts presents a listing of five reasons that your Board of Education and school administration have placed a second facilities issue on the May Primary Election. We ask that you diligently read this handout and if you have questions, please feel free to call the superintendent's office at 264-5141 or any of your school board members who are all listed in the local telephone directory. There is a second handout that provides a detailed description of what we shall bid out if the Building Bond Issue passes on May 3rd. The most paramount issue is the need to add additional classrooms back into the new school building. When the new school is completed there will only be enough classrooms for the exact number of teachers that we have working in the school district. It is anticipated that the State of Ohio will one day mandate all-day and everyday Kindergarten. There are no classrooms if additional special education units are needed or if the student population increases. The second handout continues to describe all of the athletic facilities that we wish to relocate and/or build at the new school site. The school board and superintendent listened to a lot of input and opinions regarding the construction of outdoor athletic facilities at the new school site. We have done our best to retain portions of the football stadium such as the home and visitors stands. If possible the stadium press box will be recycled. We also plan to reuse our newest fencing due to tremendous prices increases in steel fencing. The handout also discusses our plans for athletic facilities and finally, our plans for sheltering buses at the new school site. The S.O.S. (Support Our Schools) Group is planning on hosting an information night on the Building Bond Issue on April 4th at 7:00 p.m. and we hope that you can attend this important meeting.

February - 2005

On February 15, 2005, the Holgate Local Board of Education voted to place a building bond issue on the May 3,

2005 Primary Election Ballot. The proposed project shall add additional classrooms to the new building that is under construction. A minimum of two classrooms shall be added onto the elementary classroom wing. Two classrooms were cut from the project during the last round of budget cuts for the project in July of 2004. More classrooms shall be added if the bidding process and the budget permit. Our number one priority is to add classrooms back into the building to allow for future expansion and additional programs that could be mandated in the future. The project will also include the construction or purchase of a building to serve as a transportation center (bus garage) for the school district. In addition, the Bond Issue will provide funds to construct a football stadium, an outside athletic building that will contain restrooms, a concession stand, locker rooms, and a weight room. The bond issue will also pay for the construction of a track softball field, and a baseball diamond.

We would like to remind the community that the school district originally had money set aside to assist with the movement of the outdoor athletic fields. However, the permanent improvement monies that had been set aside have now been used to pay the school's share of the budget over runs for the new school complex. If you recall, the school was bid three (3) times and ended up over $3,000,000 beyond the original budget and more than two years behind in beginning the actual construction of the project. Unfortunately, we need to ask for additional funding in order to build classrooms and to locate all athletic fields and our buses at the 801 Joe E. Brown Ave. location.

All of the items listed in this article remain up for discussion in order to develop a priority list for the actual items that shall be bid after the bond issue passes. In addition, we are putting out a lot of effort to seek donations, volunteer labor, and cheaper alternative ideas in order to remove as many items as is possible off of our list. The more items we can take off of our list, the more money available for the addition of classrooms. Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with the superintendent and/or Board of Education member of your choice. The superintendent can be reached daily in his office at 264-5141 and stop-by visits are welcomed.

The regular season has concluded for both basketball programs and we would like to wish the players and coaches good luck as they begin competition in the state basketball tournaments. At the deadline for this newsletter the Lady Tigers have already won their first tournament game over Hilltop High School; but lost to Gorham-Fayette for the sectional championship. The boys program is seeded in the sectional tournament and they will play for the sectional championship on Friday, February 25, 2005, at Wauseon High School at 8:15 p.m. Go Tigers!!

January - 2005

After a very mild beginning to the winter season we have certainly paid a price lately in terms of heavy snowfall and ice storms. To date, (January 25th) the school district has used four of its' allowed five calamity days (1 fog & 3 ice/snow days).

We have scheduled two very important public meetings to discuss the possibility of putting up another facility levy on the May 2005 Primary Election Ballot. The Board and superintendent have been researching the costs associated with moving all of our athletic fields and the transportation facility to the new school site located on St. Rt. # 18.

Beilharz Architects of Defiance, Ohio has sketched a new site plan (a copy can be found later in this newsletter) that would place new baseball and softball fields, a football stadium, and track at the new school site. In addition, an athletic building and bus facility would be constructed. The proposed 8,500 square foot athletic building would house locker rooms, restrooms, concession stand, and a press box for the ball diamonds. In addition, a small metal building would be constructed to work on a single bus and there would be a fenced compound to store the district's nine school buses.

The finances to support these athletic and transportation facilities would come from a new 3.0 mill Building Bond Issue. It is anticipated that the 3.0 Building Bond Issue would raise $1,800,000 over a 30 year period of time. The athletic department and athletic boosters are considering taking on the responsibility of building one or both of the ball fields. Donations and volunteer labor are being sought in order to accomplish as much as is possible with the dollars that this new 3.0 mill bond issue would generate. You may recall that the school district was forced to cut square footage (classrooms) from the current project to get within the State of Ohio's established budget for our OSFC Project. With help from the boosters, athletic department, and other sources we hope that funds would free up from the $1,800,000 budget to construct two or more classrooms on the elementary wing of the new school building. The final configuration of the facilities to be constructed is open for discussion and our final decision is yet to be made.

The dates of the two public meetings are as follows: First meeting to be held in the high school gym on Monday, January 31 2005 at 6:30 P.M. The second public meeting is to be held at the New Bavaria VFW Building on Wednesday, February 2, 2005 at 6:30 P.M. We are expecting strong turnouts from the community to express both support and concerns about the proposed second building bond issue for the Holgate Schools. It is important that you express your opinion regarding the location of all athletic and academic functions being located on a single fifty acre site. We hope to see you either on January 31st or February 2nd.

November - 2004

The mild November weather continues to allow us to make great progress at the construction site. We are very happy that both of the classroom wings are under roof and closed in to accommodate winter indoor work during December to February. Those of you who drive by the construction site on a regular basis can tell that the high block walls that will comprise the two gymnasiums and school cafeteria are making great progress. The steel I-beams and bar joists for the main varsity gym are already on the construction site and if the weather holds the steel will be set in place for the varsity gym around the first of December. The demeanor and cooperation between contracts continues to be excellent. The attitude of the contractors is one of "lets' build a great school for the Holgate Communities." Holgate students made thank you and welcome to Holgate posters which are proudly displayed by the workers in all the job site office trailers. I visit the job site several times per day and I will continue to keep the community informed regarding the progress of our construction project.

October - 2004

1. Thanks to a break in the weather we are back to work full-steam. 50% of the high school classroom floors in the academic wing were poured today. Peterson Construction expects to finish the rest of Unit C (High School classroom floors) tomorrow.

2. Iron workers have 75% of the bar joists and structural steel in place on Unit A (elementary classroom wing). Iron workers tell me that joists and structural steel goes in the high school classrooms next week. November 1st is the target date to start putting the metal decking on the classroom roofs.

3. 12 brick masons are back on the job laying cement block on the walls that will become the cafeteria/auditorium. We are still ahead of schedule. We need warm temperatures and dry weather to keep up the fast pace we have become accustomed to these past few weeks.

4. Once the classroom wings are closed in by Mid-November the HVAC contractor plans to start handing duct work in the classroom units (A & C).

5. The plumbers are now beginning the underground work for the gym areas and the kitchen.

September - 2004

Holgate Local Schools are off to a very exciting start for the 2004-05 school year. Enrollment is up approximately 10 students which makes the total enrollment for the current school year 509 students. The official count that funds the school district via the State of Ohio will be taken Friday, October 8, 2004. The official enrollment on the Friday of the first full week in October of each school year is the enrollment figure that the State of Ohio uses to fund their schools.

The biggest event of the young school year was the groundbreaking ceremony that was held prior to the first home football game back on September 3rd. More than 100 people showed up to watch students, community members, teachers, school board members, and school administrators dig into the ground at the new school site to officially commemorate the beginning of construction for the new school complex. We encourage you to drive by the new school site on State Route #18 just East of Holgate to keep track of the progress being made by the six prime contractors already working on the school complex. As this article goes to press, I would inform you that the initial base coat of asphalt has been put down on the parking lots and driveways. In addition, a majority of the footers have been poured that comprise the outline of the buildings shape. Approximately 20 brick masons are busy placing several thousand cement blocks on the foundations on a daily basis. The outline of the building is already taking shape and some of the walls are up over 8 feet tall at this point in time. Prior to Thanksgiving vacation, Peterson Construction of Wapakoneta, Ohio hopes to have the block walls comprising both the secondary and the elementary school in place. Once the walls are complete a temporary roof shall be put in place to allow for indoor work during the winter months. Later in October, structural steel will begin arriving that will serve as the frame work for the central core area as well as for the gymnasiums. You should be able to observe small cranes and iron workers putting steel girders in place during the months of October and November.

The Holgate School Levy Committee is in the process of "Kicking Off" our campaign efforts to pass the .5% Income Tax Levy. Organizational meetings have been held to plan strategies and to collect donations for the levy campaign. The levy committee plans to call and/or visit the homes of all registered voters in the Holgate School district. Our levy committee is compiling information to inform the public of our urgent need for increased funds. Holgate Schools has reached the point where expenses are exceeding revenues. Additional tax dollars are needed to avoid making additional staff and program cuts. As you recall, the Holgate Board of Education has already made both program and staff cuts late last school year in order to guarantee a balanced budget for 2004-05 school year. After you speak with a representative of the levy committee and read the financial information that will be provided to you, we will then be asking that you support the Income Tax Levy on Tuesday, November 2, 2004.

As always, if you would like more information on your school district, please do not hesitate to stop by my office or to call me at 419-264-5141. I will always try to make myself available to take your calls.

April - 2004

FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT:

Congratulations to Paul Wayne and his Holgate Tiger basketball team. There is no doubt that we all have become spoiled with three trips to Columbus in the last four years. I couldn't be more proud of Mr. Wayne and his team's accomplishments. It is a new page in the history and tradition of Holgate basketball.

Congratulations are also in order to Mrs. Buchholz and Mrs. Baker and the entire cast for the musical, Cinderella. I hope everyone got to see the performance. We have had many positive compliments. It is great to see our students turn out such professional performances.

Congratulations are also in order for Linda Wagner and Bob Verhoff who have decided to retire. Both individuals have truly contributed a lot to the Holgate School District. We wish them both the very best in their retirement.

I want to thank State Representative Jim Hoops for introducing a new law which will permit all school districts to place permanent improvement issues on the ballot for a continuous term. Currently school districts can only go up to a 5-year term on a permanent improvement issue.

There have been many questions as to when Lingvai Excavating will start construction again. As of a week ago, the ground was still too wet for construction of the foundation building pad. He has been checking the soil twice a week with the hope that he can get started soon. Beilharz Architects will have the new bid documents done in about two weeks. The dispute with OSFC has been resolved and is finalized. We can only hope that our new bids will not be severely affected by the rising cost of steel.

February - 2004

LEVY INFORMATION

Please remember to vote on March 2nd. We have included with this mailing our levy information for the two renewals on the ballot. Reviewing this information will help you become an informed voter. Both of our issues on the ballot are renewals which just happened to expire at the same time. Our district is in its third year of deficit spending and can not afford to be without the funds generated from these renewals. The failure of one or both of these renewals would certainly cause us to make severe and immediate cuts which would affect our students. Even if these issues pass, we are still faced with the task of making cost reductions due to the state cut backs in funding, rising costs, and Holgate's declining enrollment. Our district dropped 29 students this year and there is another drop of 15 expected for next year before things start to level off.

NEW SCHOOL INFORMATION

It would appear that we are very close to finalizing an agreement between OSFC and the Holgate School District. On November 26th, former board president, John Fritz, and I made a trip to Columbus to meet with OSFC officials. We were told that we would not be allowed to have our locally bid 10,000 sq. ft. for the actual bid price of $327,232. We were also informed that we would need to pay $147 per sq. ft. or $1.4 million for this space. After we refused to pay this cost, the price was later reduced to $919,000. On December 10th, we were directed to either pay this amount and keep the original bids or eliminate the added space and rebid the project. We are currently agreeing to a compromise. Our district will remove 7,000 sq. ft., and we will be able to independently bid this space on our own during the project if we choose to add the space back into the design. We will be permitted to build this space at the same time which is important due to the cost savings from the contractor already being on site. The remaining 3,096 sq. ft. is the additional bleacher seating area above the locker rooms. This space is integrated into the design and, therefore, can not be easily removed. This locally funded space will remain in the OSFC project. Our district will pay a flat sum of $50,000 for this space if our new bids come in over budget. If the bids are on budget we will pay $15,000 for this space. The maximum cost for this space will be just over $16 per sq. ft. which is sizably different than the $147 per sq. ft. that was presented to John Fritz and I when we first made the trip to Columbus. Although we are not thrilled with rebidding most areas of the project a third time, we are pleased that we will only be paying $50,000 to OSFC and not $919,000 or $1.4 million. We are also pleased we can rebid and construct our space during the OSFC project. We have also added some other contingency agreements which will be beneficial. We could not have come to this agreement if it were not for State Representative Jim Hoops, State Senator Lynn Wachtmann, and the Ohio School Board Association. Since our dispute with OSFC has been resolved during the non-construction months of winter, there should not be any detrimental effect on the project time schedule. Lengvai Excavating will finish the site work as soon as the weather permits. The mild redesign and rebidding is now in the hands of the architect and construction managers. They hopefully should have everything ready to go by the time the site work is finished.

January - 2004

I want our district residents to understand that the delay in new school construction has much more to do with the weather than it does with our dispute with OSFC. I feel very confident that we will have our difference resolved by the time the weather allows us to move forward.

The Holgate administration and school board are working nonstop to get the best school at the lowest possible cost. Not allowing OSFC to gouge our district for additional money to offset their State cost is really what this dispute is all about.

Our district bid an extra 9,777 square feet at the same time the overall school project was bid. We had an agreement with OSFC that we could either accept or reject the bids for our local space depending on the bid price. We were further told we could accept or reject separate areas included in the 9,777 square feet. When the bids came in, we decided to take all of the space at a cost of $327,232. This was an excellent price and value for our district, which we could afford out of our permanent improvement fund. However, right in the middle of our project, OSFC decided to implement a new policy that forces schools to pay an estimated value on the locally bid space based on a cost average of the entire building rather than the actual bids for the specific space. This change of policy increased our cost for our local 100% paid space from $327,232 to $919,000. It does not seem ethically fair for one partner to assess the other partner an extra $591,768 to off set their cost. This new policy that was started with Holgate will basically eliminate districts from having the opportunity to bid local space at the same time the OSFC project is bid.

OSFC is only willing to reduce the cost which is being assessed to our district if we purchase the entire 9,777 square feet. This is not an affordable option to us. Accordingly, it is likely that we will do a minor redesign with our local space removed and rebid the project. The site work is the only bid area awarded thus far. OSFC had indicated at our last meeting that we would be able to rebid the space on our own during the construction phase of the project which would also keep our local cost low since the contractor is already on site.

I personally want to thank Senator Lynn Wachtmann and State Representative Jim Hoops for their efforts to help the Holgate District with this matter. I also want to thank the representatives from the Ohio School Boards Association who have supported our school in this matter. OSFC Executive Director, Lynn Readey and her staff recently made a trip to our district to help resolve the difference and help the project move forward.

The superintendents of other OSFC schools have assured me that our problems at Holgate are not at all that unique which makes me feel, at least, a little better.

December - 2003

The site work on the new school project has pretty much come to a stop due to the winter weather and will probably not resume until early spring. Consequently, the current dispute, which we are having with the Ohio School Facilities Commission, should not cause any additional delay. The Ohio School Facilities Commission has informed us they want additional money from our district or we will be forced to redesign our building.

The Ohio School Facilities Commission allowed our district to bid 10,000 square feet of additional space to be paid for locally by our district. The bid cost on this space came in at $327,232 which was a very good deal for our district. The project administrator for OSFC allowed us to accept this bid price and further allowed our district to include our space as an addition to the schematic design package. However, on November 18th, the OSFC notified us they would not honor the agreement they made with our district. In a letter dated December 10th, we were informed that we would need to pay them $919,000 for the additional space rather than the original bid price of $327,232. The $919,000 cost was established as a cost estimate done by the construction managers who are employed by the Ohio School Facilities Commission. The letter from the executive director of OSFC further indicated if we did not pay the additional money we would be asked to redesign the building with the elimination of our locally funded 10,000 square feet. It has been our position that we will not pay any additional monies to OSFC and we are working to resolve this matter through our State Representative and Senator in conjunction with legal counsel.

The Ohio School Boards Association will also be assisting with this matter. Our district residents should be assured we are committed to keeping the school project within the amount originally budgeted. The Ohio School Facilities Commission has placed our school board in a position with very little choice by refusing to honor the agreements made by their own project administrator. Unfortunately, the Ohio School Facilities Commission has lost sight of their mission which was to help poor school districts.

November - 2003

Our new school site work by Lingvai Excavating has been going smoothly with the exception of too much rain. The wetness and lack of sun for drying has placed the site work behind schedule. It is extremely important for the earth under the building to be prepared properly for a solid foundation. We are working with a soil engineer at this time to artificially enhance the ground drying and stabilization. This will allow the general contractor to start the construction this winter.

The rebids for plumbing, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) and general contractor were opened on November 19th. Our district was able to reduce the new school cost by $884,489 through this process. This was better than the $709,000 which we estimated. This still leaves the project around $800,000 over budget. This percentage of overage is not uncommon for Northwest Ohio projects. Negotiations are underway with the Ohio School Facilities Commission to pay 82% of this cost with Holgate's 18% share coming from the permanent improvement fund which can only be used for this type of school expense. We will be meeting with OSFC in Columbus to work through some of the issues with the shared cost of the project. It hasn't always been easy having OSFC as our partner. They have certainly come to realize that we intend to get the best possible school for our community.

October - 2003

Annexation is underway for the new school site. Although about half of the original 50-acre purchase was in the village, the balance of the land needed to be annexed. This should draw to closure very soon. What seems to be a simple task does require a volume of paper work and resolutions from the school, village, and township trustees. This annexation will allow for the collection of construction income tax by the village. An easement agreement bringing a second water line and a sidewalk into the site off of Chicago Avenue is almost finalized. The school just passed a resolution to purchase Whitlock Street from the village that will in turn become the South entrance of the school off ofRailway Avenue. The street is currently being used by the site contractor. Land acquisition money will be used for this purchase and the cost will be equal to the cost of improvements made to the street by the village. It has been enjoyable to watch the current site work being performed. There is now access off of State Route 18. All site work is scheduled to be finished in December. The general contractor, plumbing, and HVAC are being rebid in an attempt to lower cost. This second round of bids will be due on November 19th. The electrical, fire protection, and technology bidders have all granted extensions to their bids that were opened on August 13th. Besides the additional 6,284 square feet allowed by OSFC, our district further bid an additional 10,500 square feet. This extra, locally bid space came in extremely low on the first bids and vigorous negotiations have been made to lock their prices in for the school even though the base bid work for general contracting is being rebid. Please watch our Holgate School web site (nwoca.org/~hol_www/) under New School for the weekly updated photographs of the work being performed.

September - 2003

With all of the rumors circulating about the new school, I'm not sure that a monthly newsletter is sufficient to get the word out to everyone. As mentioned in the last newsletter, we received bids from 42 contractors on August 13th for seven different bid packages. The school board has only awarded one bid thus far to the site contractor. This bid went to Lingvai Excavating for a contract amount of $1,654,514. This bid was $249,000 less than the low bid that was rejected back on June 25th. In this instance, patience was a sizable virtue. The site work has started with access into the property coming in from Whitlock Street off of Railway. This street will eventually be school property and the southern entrance into the new school.

All other bids are temporarily on hold. Although several of the bid packages were under the engineer's estimate, it is not in the district's best interest to award these bids until a decision has been made on the general contractor bid which was substantially over the estimate. When all bid packages are totaled, it comes to 6.79% over the engineer's estimate which can be accepted per Ohio law. This, however, would place the project 1.8 million dollars over budget. Most of this overage is in the general contractor's bid which was 1.3 million dollars over the construction manager's estimate. Although no final decision has been made, it would appear the general contractor's bid package will be put out for rebid after some cost reductions have been made. There have been no decisions with the remaining five bid packages. They are still being looked at very carefully for potential cost reductions also.

Why the project is over budget seems to be the topic of rumors of which everyone seems to have an opinion. "No", it is not because the carpet is too expensive or the glass dome came in way too high in cost. These are just two of the rumors I hear circulating through the community. Let me try to explain the factors for being over budget. First, most of the school projects in Northwest Ohio have come in over budget. It is my understanding that Edon's first bid was 2 million over budget. There are only a few contractors in Northwest Ohio capable of building a 16 million dollar project which does reduce the competitive bidding. I believe there was only one bid from a roofer made to the four general contractors who submitted bids. There is typically only two to three bricklayers submitting bids on our Northwest Ohio projects.

Secondly, there are too many new school projects in Northwest Ohio at one time which drives up cost ? the old "supply and demand" rule we learned in school. A third reason is the construction estimate was projected extremely low by our construction managers. I do not believe their estimate kept pace with the actual design drawings.

The estimate lag is not entirely a bad thing for our district. In some ways being over budget may be very positive. Ohio School Facilities Commission will not let you budget against the entire amount of money which has been appropriated. There is close to one million dollars being held back for unforeseen expenses. If a district stays right on budget there is a strong chance that the 82% of the million dollar reserve will go back to Columbus and not be placed in our new school. With this in mind, why would our district want to be on budget? Secondly, any cost run-over is shared with OSFC in the same 18% to 82% ratio as the base project. Accordingly, our district has gained additional items in our school for an 18% cost. Our permanent improvement fund which can only be used for school facility improvements can be used for our 18% shared expenses. The permanent improvement money must be used for these types of items.

Since OSFC does not want to send more money into the Holgate District, they are currently negotiating cost reductions with our district to rebid the general contractor package. We have agreed to pull out items which can be added back into the project as construction goes forward if there aren't any unforeseen expenses. This will allow the one million dollars to be used for our optional items and avoid returning unused state dollars. I do expect a rebid with the general contractors to be favorable to our district and gain us a savings even more substantial than that of the site work.

August - 2003

The bid packages for the entire new school construction were opened on August 13th. as always there was some good news along with some bad. Seven packages were bid on by contractors ranging from site work to technology. A total of 42 contractors submitted bids. Bids were under the estimate in five out of the seven areas. However, the general contractor's bid was substantially over the estimate. This will obviously generate a lot of discussion between the architect, construction managers, Ohio School Facility Commission and the Holgate School District. I'm sure there will need to be a decision whether to rebuild that one package after cost reductions have been made or accept the bid as is. Any increase in cost would have to be split with Holgate District paying 18 % while the State would have to pick up 82 %. Although we do not want to go over budget we do not want to return State dollars because they were not used. Our district goal is to consume all state dollars for our new school without spending any additional local money from the general fund.

These decisions should not slow down the start of construction since the site work bid was lower than the estimate. We are looking for that bid to be awarded and site work to start very soon. We are working hard to get the ground outside the village annexed as soon as possible to help the village with the collection of construction income tax.

April - 2003 (an excerpt of Mr. McDowell's April editorial)

The new school keeps on moving right along. However, I sometimes need to be patient and remember that our architects, Beilharz Inc., are currently designing and building six schools. Ottoville, Miller City, Holgate, Patrick Henry, Evergreen, and Kalida are all current projects for our architectural firm. Our own Lynn Clady, from Beilharz's, is starting to give us recommendations for the interior design. Although Beilharz seems to be a little overworked at this time, we hope to present some colored elevation drawings to the community very soon. There are currently several rows of brick laid up in front of the Vocational Agricultural building. Although they are from different companies, they are all very similar in color. We are planning to use a darker brick for the majority of the school with a lighter brick for accent. By having multiple companies with the same color brick we hope to get a much better bid price. We have asked for the mortar to be the same color as the light brick. The mortar has not been mixed to match thus far.

As I close my editorial, I want to personally thank the Evans family and the Village of Holgate for their cooperation with providing us accesses into the new school. Although all contractual details have not been finalized, it certainly appears there will be a sidewalk entering the southwest corner of the 50 acres and also a school drive entering in from Railway Avenue using the ground known to be Whitlock Street. The new school project can be exasperating at times; however, it is still exciting to watch everything take shape.

February - 2003

The new school is currently going rather smoothly other than having to make too many decisions too fast. Other than some minor changes, the site plan has been finalized. The current design is on display at the Henry County Bank and on the school web site. After several redesigns, I believe it to be very safe. The bus drop off area, student parking, and staff parking are all separate areas. The parking design should accommodate about 460 cars. Our count at the Ayersville basketball game, which was one of our larger crowds, was 406 cars.

We are planning on tiling the entire 50 acres for good drainage. There is currently a retention pond planned for the northeast corner. This will help to provide earth used for elevating the school building as well as retaining water for slow release.

The design development phase is nearing completion and the construction document phase will soon be underway.

January - 2003

Sue Westendorf from the State School Board of Education has informed us that she will be presenting the Holgate School District with a banner from the State. The awarding of the banner to our school is based on this year's report card in which we scored 21 out of the 22 standards set by the State. Because of this report card, the State of Ohio has labeled the Holgate District an "Excellent District". This is an academic accomplishment that everyone in the district should take pride in.

It required an additional effort from students, teachers, service center personnel, principals, and parents. Our appreciation goes out to all parents who supported our after-school intervention and for the individual help given to their children to help reach this goal. The 2003 State report card based on last year's results will be mailed out to parents in March. The results from this year's testing will be mailed out in August. Although we are jubilant with last year's success, which is being publicized now, we are working very hard to duplicate the same success this year.

It was not necessarily good news when many local residents opened up their new real estate tax statements for 2002. Agricultural tax valuations set by the state dropped by $1.6 million in our district while residential rates were up by $1.5 million. Although many taxpayers are paying higher taxes, there is actually a tax loss on both real estate and income tax to the school district. Local taxes are about 36.5% of the Holgate school income. State funds make up about 60.4% of the revenue while federal funds are 3.1%. With the Governor's request to cut budgets, it would appear that State revenue to school districts might be cut by 2.5%. The State's share is the largest percentage of our income. These changes in school revenue will obviously have some effects on our district as we continue to explore methods to reduce our cost without affecting the education of students. "Doing more with less" was a philosophy I learned while in the service.

The new school is moving along on schedule. We have finally come up with a parking lot design, which we believe should be both user friendly and provide a safe setting for our students. We should have this design on our website and at the Henry County Bank within the near future. The design will show the driveways, parking lot areas, and future location of athletic fields.

December - 2002

The big question I get asked wherever I go is "When will we break ground?" As you are aware, the ground breaking date was delayed substantially when we involved our legislators in getting us more space. However, the delay was well worth the extra 6,000 square feet that we obtained. This space is equal to the size of the auxiliary gym (middle school/elementary). Further delays have been a result of just not accepting the first or even second designs given to our district. As we said during the campaign, we only have one chance to do this and the staff, administration, and school board are working hard to make sure every detail is correct. Although the schematic design (.pdf) of the building is complete and on our web site, we are still not satisfied with some safety issues of the parking lot design. Efforts are currently focused on this area.

The time schedule currently projected by our construction managers is as follows. Just as before; please remember that this schedule will continue to change depending on many circumstances.

Bid return: July, 2003
Construction to Start: August, 2003
Move In Date: March, 2005

Some good news, the construction managers have done a preliminary estimate of the design cost, and it was within our 16 million-dollar budget. This is the base design of the 103,485 square feet, which is allowable by the Ohio School Facilities Commission. However, districts are allowed to request separate bids for additional space. This process is called L.F.I. or "Locally Funded Initiatives." The Holgate district has included seven additional areas for a total of 9,600 square feet. The district has the right to accept or reject any or all of these separate local bid requests. We are not locked into accepting these bids if they come in at a high cost, but we have a lot to gain if the bids come in low. This approach proved to be very successful for the Ottoville school district. They were able to gain additional space for a very low cost.

November - 2002 The Schematic Design jpg format 12/9/02 The Schematic Design pdf format 12/9/02

My thanks are extended to school board member Doug Mangas who recently attended the State Capital Conference in Columbus. He was able to bring back some color charts for metal roofing along with an illustration of a gym with "purple and gold" bleachers. This information will definitely be used as we finalize our decisions.

December 19th should mark the end of the schematic design phase of the new school project. We have made several last minute changes to the design. A slight shift in location of the elementary restroom to be closer to the primary grades was one such change. The relocation of a locker room hallway next to the elementary gym was another change, which provided us access into a storage and maintenance area. The most noteworthy change, however, was moving vocational agriculture to the back of the building which then allowed us to push the high school gym up toward the academic halls allowing both exit doors to align with the cafetorium. The second this design is finalized, we will display it at the Holgate Community Library and also submit it to the news media.

The school drives and parking lot areas are being redesigned for added safety. The first design forced student drivers to walk across the area used for bus drop-off which would have been similar to the current situation we now have. This drawing will also be added to our website as it is finished. The new school parking is being designed to accommodate about 400 cars. We will count cars at some of our larger games this year to make sure this is satisfactory.

School board members Greg Thomas and Dr. Larry Zachrich have continued to work with the Village of Holgate concerning our entrance street from Railway. Our school district has proposed a solution to the village. We are currently waiting for an answer to our proposal.

October - 2002

The new school project, indeed, does bring back memories of the military. The "hurry up and wait" style of working in the service often is the same way the new school project seems to move forward. Future forward progress is momentarily in the hands of the construction managers. They have been given schematic design drawings from the architect enabling them to develop an estimated cost of the new school. Because we have met the allowable square footage doesn't mean we have met the 16 million dollar budget until their estimate is finished. Accordingly, we are currently waiting for their answer but are also working on detail issues. Type of bleachers, carpet or vinyl, movable walls, window and door sizes are just a few of the issues or decisions currently being worked on.

Our school district had a good meeting with the village council and mayor on October 8th. Whitlock Street once named Whitelock Street is in the process of being vacated. This street is on paper only. The school is only asking for the section of street to be vacated between Baltimore and S. R. 18. The new school, as currently designed, will be partially built over this street.

The village council also passed a resolution stating the income tax collected from the new school construction would be used for infrastructure to the new school such as sidewalks, streets, etc. This was a great gesture from council and very much appreciated by our school district. The construction tax has been estimated as high as $50,000. Our school board member, Larry Zachrich, attended the last council meeting on October 22nd to encourage the formation of an infrastructure committee to be established with both representatives from the village council and the school board. It is my understanding this committee is now in place.

The first big issue to be resolved is how the $90,000 estimated cost of paving Whitlock Street from Railway into the south side of the school property will be paid. Whether it is a village street or a school drive seems to be the question which may determine which entity pays for the street.

Other news of interest is this year's open enrollment figures which are up this year. Holgate has 16 more students coming into our district than going the other way. We have 29 students going to neighboring districts as compared to 45 students coming into us. This does generate additional revenue for our school which in turn helps to keep our tax rate down. This increase generates about $80,000 dollars which equates to about 1.1 mills. I would certainly encourage our voters to support the 1.9 mill issue placed on the ballot by Hope Services. Holgate currently has seven students receiving service. Our district currently pays a portion of the excess Hope cost incurred from the education of these students. The passage of this issue will directly save our school district money.

My hat goes off to the elementary students and teachers for a wonderful grandparent's day presentation. I think all involved did a great job and both the school and parents have every right to be extremely proud.

September - 2002

Sometimes no news can be good news! There is not much different happening from the previous newsletter. The schematic design phase continues to become more detailed. We are currently meeting with staff members to finalize room arrangements. then we look at where every electrical outlet drain, phone jack, and computer terminal will have to be located. We are also working on the exterior appearance of the building. Several types of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems are being reviewed by the school board. It is our goal to place the project up for bid in January.

Dialogue has started with all utility companies involved. It is important that we establish the tap fees which the school district will be assessed. The Holgate School has requested to be on the village council agenda for October 8th. The discussion on tap fees will only be one issue. It is still the school district's desire to gain access for students on foot or bike from following Chicago Avenue east to Gates Street and then into the southwest corner of the school's 50 acre location. A street access off of Railway is also another important agenda item to be discussed at the village meeting next month.

August - 2002

The program of requirements phase of the new project has been officially completed. This means that the number of rooms and all other areas have been clearly established with the exact number of square feet assigned to each area. It has been this first phase which has delayed the schedule by several months due to insufficient space originally allowed by the Ohio School Facilities Commission. Once we were able to obtain the additional 6,284 square feet, the pace of the project definitely accelerated. The project is now in the schematic design phase. While waiting on space decisions from the State, work was initiated in this next portion of the project to regain time previously lost.

All soil testing on the land to be purchased has now been finalized. There have been multiple types of soil testing to establish suitability for construction purposes as well as environmental concerns. All testing has been very positive and we now have the green light to complete the land purchase agreements. We are still awaiting a decision of the Henry County Common Pleas Judge with reference to the ownership of streets which may be used for access into our new school location. This decision is important to our district since it affects the overall design of playgrounds, parking lot designs, and the location of athletic fields.

All Northwest Ohio superintendents who are involved with Ohio School Facilities Projects have organized monthly meetings. I feel this has been very beneficial to Holgate since most of the schools are one year ahead of our district. We recently went through Miller City's new school which is under construction. Our visit to Miller City, as well as other districts, has been extremely helpful and we certainly appreciate their kindness.  

June - 2002

Holgate School has a schematic design selected for the new school,this is the third area of good news. all three new school advisory groups (students, staff, and community) recommended the same design known as the "purple concept". The new design selected seems to be a popular choice receiving a lot of support from those who have seen the plan. It hosts a common lobby area for both elementary and middle school/high school with the majority of student and parent services located in that one common area. There will be an event entrance off to the east side to accommodate all large activities. Once we have completed all the fine tuning with this design, we will make it readily available to everyone. We are still 4000 square feet over with this purple concept plan. However, we have several alternatives to bring the size in alignment with the Ohio School Facilities space allotted. The school board is currently reviewing the curriculum and staffing needs of the new facility along with some space saving design possibilities. The land purchase agreements are now finalized and surveying and soil boring have been completed as well.

April - 2002

As we mentioned in the last newsletter, it became apparent that we just could not satisfactorily fit everything in the new school based on the size allowed by the Ohio School Facilities Commission. Their formula for figuring a building's square feet just did not work for small K-12 schools. It was a problem for Miller City, and it has been a tough issue for Holgate also. After months of negotiation, many meetings, and help from Representative Hoops and Senator Wachtmann, the Ohio School Facilities Commission has agreed to grant additional space and more state dollars to the Holgate District. We are anticipating about 6,800 more square feet. This would mean our new school will change from the original 97,201 sq. ft. to around 104,000 sq. ft. Unfortunately, we have not yet received the revised master plan which prevents me from giving the exact figures. The State will fund 82% of the additional space and the school share of 18% will be paid for out of the school's general fund and permanent improvement accounts. This increase in size was absolutely essential to build a quality school, and it will be at no increase in cost to our taxpayers. This space increase allows Beilharz Architects to move forward with the schematic design phase. They are currently working on two different designs. We are enthusiastically looking forward to sharing these designs so that we can gather community input. We are currently forming a staff advisory committee and a community advisory committee to make new school recommendations to the school board. Students will also have some opportunities for input through the student council organization. Just as soon as we have all of the figures from OSFC on the size increase and cost breakdown, we will be sending out news releases to both the papers and local radio station. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call my office.

MARCH - 2002

As we continue to work on the design and program of requirements of the new school, it is our conclusion that the 97,201 square foot building size which was determined by the Ohio School Facilities Commission is just not adequate for the Holgate School needs. We have been investigating every possible avenue which would allow the OSFC to grant additional space to our district. Both Senator Lynn Wachtmann and Representative Jim Hoops have been involved in assisting our district with the dialogue and in helping us facilitate a workable solution. We are very appreciative of their efforts in supporting the Holgate community. Recent conversations with Doug Swartz from OSFC have given me hope that they may be nearing some decisions that would be very positive for our district. A quick resolution to the size issue would certainly allow Beilharz Architects to move forward at a faster pace.

Even though there has not been any resolution to the question of ownership of the platted streets to the west of the new school location, it now seems this may not prevent the school from finalizing the purchase agreements of the land. The various legal councils involved seem to concur that the platted streets, which partially fall onto the new school location, are not a part of the legal dispute.

Financial matters have been moving at a fast pace since it is in the District's interest to get the bonds sold before interest rates begin to go up. The $3,069,000 worth of bonds were sold on April 3rd. Andy Brossart of Seasongood & Mayer hosted a bond informational meeting for local residents on March 19th. Andy complimented the District for the best attendance he has experienced. Mrs. Hoops has worked hard to prepare the official statement and establish the credit rating which is necessary for bond sales.

FEBRUARY - 2002

Forward movement on the new school has been slow during the past month due to a couple of major issues. The first issue is that of finalizing the land purchase agreements. Although the survey is complete and the details are close to being finalized on the purchase agreements, there is an obstacle which is currently preventing forward movement. The obstacle, or what I would prefer to call a temporary challenge, is the "paper streets." A long time ago lots and streets were platted on paper but never developed. There has become a legal question as to who owns the streets that have been platted or if streets still remain.

The unresolved issue of the streets affects the school in two ways. First, several of the streets have been placed directly on the boundary lines of the property Holgate School is purchasing from the Poulsons'. The boundaries of the property changes and the acreage changes depending if these are streets or not. Secondly, the location of a South access point into the school property drastically affects the overall design of the building. Both the legal council for the school and for the property owners of the land being purchased have advised us not to complete these contracts until this street question has been finalized.

The second big challenge we are dealing with still remains to be having enough inside space. When entering into the project, our district was repeatedly advised that 97,201 square feet for a new school would be enough. This size was determined by a formula used by the Ohio School Facilities Commission.

After months of working with the architect attempting to squeeze everything in the new school, I have come to the conclusion that the OSFC formula has some major flaws which tend to show up more on small K-12 schools. I believe that Miller City and Holgate are two of the smallest K-12 schools that are being done by OSFC. Miller City aggressively pursued this issue with OSFC and successfully got OSFC to increase the square feet per student formula. This forced OSFC to give more space and money to all other K-12 schools that have been built. The districts we visited such as Fairfield Local and Bradford Local were adding additions based on the Miller City change. However, we still do not feel that this change was sufficient for those small K-12 schools with limited growth projections. Holgate falls into this category based on a declining birth rate for all of Henry County and especially the Holgate area.

We are currently attempting to resolve the space issue by pursuing two different approaches. First, we have Beilharz Architects being as creative as possible with space utilization. Secondly, we are currently working with DeJong and Associates who determined the district's growth projections, which we believe did not reflect some important facts. Although we are working every day on the schematic design, we are patiently waiting for a decision on the village streets and from DeJong and Associates for a review of the Holgate enrollment projections. Both of these issues are critical to keep the project successfully rolling forward.

JANUARY - 2002

The surveyors are now finalizing the boundary survey, topographic survey, and the Phase 1 environmental study. This should allow us to finish the land purchase agreements with the three landowners. Overworked attorneys seem to be another obstacle that has inhibited the progress with the land purchase agreements.

We have had our second monthly meeting with the Ohio School Facilities Commission. Our local money, the 18% portion and land acquisition money, has been released to us through notes provided by our bond underwriters, Seasongood and Mayer. This three million dollars is currently on deposit locally. The State of Ohio will be releasing their first amount to Holgate School in April. We do not know the amount to be released at this time.

Our school is still under the P.O.R. (Program of Requirements) phase of planning. Many meetings have been conducted to study our current and future needs in the context of the Ohio Facilities Commission requirements. Trying to fit everything into the 97,201 square feet is not much different than the giant puzzle with a couple pieces left over but there are no openings.

Both Mrs. Ellerbrock and Mrs. Snyder spent many hours measuring every area within their buildings. We thought this was essential to effectively compare the new building with the space we already had in the old structure.

Almost all staff in the school is scheduled individually and in small groups to meet with the architect during the last week of January. On Monday of this same week, January 28th, Holgate School in conjunction with the Ohio School Facilities Commission will be hosting an Executive Partnering session at the St. Mary's Parish Hall. Those attending this partnering session will consist of both the leadership of the school and of the village of Holgate, along with many others who will be involved with the new construction taking place over the next three years.

The administrators, school board members, and technology staff members will be taking a trip to visit four new schools to help gain positive ideas for our new facility. We will be visiting Riverside Local which is a new K-12 facility at Degraff. We will then visit Bradford Local at Bradford, Ohio. This school district just moved in over Christmas break. The trip will then head south to the King's Island area. Little Miami High School will be looked at in Morrow and then off to the east to visit Fairfield Local at Leesburg. Fairfield is another K-12 building that was viewed by Ottoville as having some very good ideas.

We will continue to keep you informed as this exciting project moves forward.

DECEMBER - 2001

We have contracted with a surveying firm to start the boundary surveys, topographic survey, and Phase I environmental study. The purchase contracts with the land owners can not be completed until the surveying is finalized

We just had our first meeting with the Ohio School Facilities Commission on December 7th. Our planning for the school will start with the POR phase which will run to the end of February. POR stands for Program of Requirements. The master plan has established that our building will be 97,201 square feet and designed for a projected enrollment of 595 students for grades PreK through grade 12.

We must adhere to the guidelines as established by the OSFC. The OSFC bases the classrooms upon a 25:1 student ratio. Under the POR phase representatives from the teaching staff, classified staff, administrators, board members, architects, and construction manager will meet on a regular schedule to determine the specific facility needs within the OSFC guidelines. During this first phase, we will determine the number of classrooms, restrooms, conference rooms, storage spaces, cafeteria sizes, gymnasium sizes, locker rooms, office areas, custodial areas, etc. We have to put our needs into priority order and fit those needs into the allotted 97,201 square feet.

The Ohio School Facilities Commission is responsible for hiring the construction managers and this has been done. Our construction management firm is Bowen/Washington from the Cleveland area. Due to the number of OSFC projects that they are involved with, they have set up an office in Defiance.

Our local district is responsible for hiring the architects. As mentioned numerous times during the levy campaign, we are using Beilharz Architects out of Defiance. The final negotiations for their salary have not been completely finalized.

Mrs. Hoops, our district treasurer, has been busy on the financial end of the project. The school board has contracted with Seasongood and Mayer to be underwriters for the notes and bonds to be issued with this project. Seasongood and Mayer will host an investment seminar and bond informational meeting for our community during March or April. We are moving as quickly as possible on the financial matter to take advantage of the low interest rates before an upward surge in the economy. The bonds will be available to the community in $5,000 amounts.

We will do our best to keep everyone involved and informed as we continue through this new and exciting project.