Celina board picks building proposal

CELINA - School officials on Tuesday selected a construction plan to pursue after residents attending the meeting had voted on their favorite.

Fanning Howey architects initially drafted nine building plans based on the answers from 1,400 survey respondents. Officials then narrowed the nine down to two and presented them to residents at an April meeting.

More than 70% of people attending Tuesday's meeting - a mix of residents, school employees and students, superintendent Ken Schmiesing said - voted, saying they preferred a plan to build a new 182,122-square-foot middle/high school and to renovate and add 77,419 square feet to the intermediate school to house preschool through sixth grade. As part of the plan, the existing primary, elementary, middle and high school and education complex buildings would all either be demolished or remodeled.
  The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission would co-fund the project, which officials expect it would cost $79.3 million with a local share of $44.4 million.

Locally funded initiatives, such as extra classrooms, extracurricular activities space and office space, that state funding wouldn't cover could be added, Fanning Howey Executive Director Steve Wilczynski noted.

Attendees discussed spending $8.9 million to add 32,254 square feet onto the proposed preschool-through-sixth-grade building and $3.4 million to add 13,539 square feet to the middle/high school building, potentially keeping the 1998 sections of the middle and high school for office space and Mercer County Head Start. Also discussed was renovating the 1984 Tri Star addition for maintenance space and improving the Fieldhouse.

Including locally funded add-ons, the local share of the project would total $60.3 million. Wilczynski said the project would require a 7.5- to 8.4-mill bond issue, costing the owner of a $100,000 home $158-$189 per year, depending upon locally funded add-ons. This would be a 4.5- to 5.4-mill increase from what property owners now pay for a current 3-mill construction levy, which will will be paid off soon, likely in 2020.  

Construction would be divided into three phases, Wilczynski said. In phase one, construction would include the addition to the intermediate school to house preschoolers through fourth-graders and also include a new gymnasium, cafeteria, satellite kitchen and main office. Fifth- and sixth-graders would remain in the existing intermediate school. An alternate space for bus parking would be needed to allow space for construction equipment and materials, he added.

During phase two, the middle/high school would be constructed and the former East and West Elementary buildings would be demolished. The middle and high school buildings would be demolished in phase 3.  

OFCC officials will be notified of the master plan, and school board members will vote on it during their June 13 meeting, Wilczynski said. After that, OFCC officials should give final approval of the plan in July and the final project with local add-ons should be finalized by October.

District officials plan to put the bond issue on the March 10, 2020, primary election ballot, Schmiesing said. If it passes, Wilczynski said it will take 3-4 months to finalize architect selection and then a year to 16 months to design the project, and construction is expected to take about 3.5 years.