Board chooses building plan

CELINA - School board members approved the plan for the proposed Celina City Schools' building project at Thursday's special meeting.

It next will be sent to the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission for final approval.

A committee of area residents and district staff members reviewed nine plans drafted by Fanning Howey architects and chose the one they deemed best.

Committee members voted to pursue a 182,122-square-foot building for middle/high school students and house preschoolers through sixth-graders in a renovated intermediate school.

The OFCC would contribute about $36.271 million of the projected $82.436 million project, and the remaining $46.164 million would be raised locally. The local share does not include locally funded initiatives such as extra classrooms, space for extracurricular activities and offices. Counting those additions, the local share could increase to $60.3 million.

District residents will be asked at the March 10 primary election to consider a bond issue for the project, but superintendent Ken Schmiesing said the millage has not been finalized yet as the project has several elements that still need to be determined.

Construction would be divided into three phases. During phase 1, the 77,419-square-foot intermediate school addition would be built and students in preschool through fourth grade would move in. Part of the addition includes a new gymnasium, satellite kitchen and main office.

In phase 2, East Primary and West Elementary schools would be demolished, and the middle/high school building would be built at the site of the primary school. All or part of the middle school and high schools then would be demolished in phase 3. The schools' 1998 additions may be kept to house the board office and Head Start program.

Community members will be able to voice their opinions about whether to repurpose portions of the buildings slated for demolition, Schmiesing said.

Residents have discussed keeping the Fieldhouse, which is adjacent to the Education Complex. If the Education Complex were to be demolished, Schmiesing said the Fieldhouse would have to be "buttoned up" to meet state regulations.

"We will like to have community input as we make these decisions," Schmiesing said.

OFCC officials likely will sign off on the project in July. If the bond passes, Fanning Howey Executive Director Steve Wilczynski said the architect selection would take 3-4 months to finalize and then the design process would take about a year to 16 months. Construction then would take about 3.5 years.

In other action, members approved a resolution to accept a bid of $229,500 from Amy Ikerd to buy the 1,700-square-foot house built by Tri Star students at 1355 Touvelle St., Celina.

Ikerd was the lone bidder at the June 6 auction, Tri Star Director Tim Buschur said.

This was the minimum bid and covers all expenses that went into the house, Schmiesing added.

"It's a really nice house. They did a really good job on that," member Barbara Vorhees said.