Board members support 2024 bond election

   The first page has been turned.

   Monticello Community School District Superintendent Brian Jaeger opened discussion on the possibility of considering a bond election, as early as November 2024, to allow for construction of a new elementary school.

   Jaeger sought, and received, the support of all five members of the Monticello School board during the board’s Sept. 25 regular meeting.

   Jaeger floated it as part of his list of superintendent’s goals for 2023-24.

   Two things have to come back favorably for the district. First, sometime this fall the district will receive an estimate from OPN Architects of what it might cost to build a preK-4 elementary school.

   Then, at the Jan. 22, 2024 board meeting, Piper Sandler Finance is scheduled to present to the board about its bond capacity.

   “If that all comes in, and it all aligns, my question is, are you ready to do this?” Jaeger asked.

   This was not an action item on the agenda. But each of the five board members expressed their support, with some of them providing additional comments.

   Mark Rieken added, “I would say, I think the community as a whole realizes that there’s a need, and that it’s coming sooner or later. It’s not going away.”

   Board president Craig Stadtmueller said: “I’m supportive. I think the case is very compelling.”

   Board members Mandy Norton and Amanda Brennaman also expressed their support.

   Jaeger said, once the numbers come in, the next step would be to form a facilities committee, much like the district did when it went for the bond issue that passed in 2018, allowing for construction of the new Monticello Middle School.

   He gave the board members “homework,” to come up with names of people who they think would make good facilities committee members, a list that “broadly represents the Monticello community.

   “We want to cover a lot of ground with people,” Jaeger said. “We need everyone we can get, all the different types of people in our community. We want to do the will of the community.”

   The committee would then make a recommendation to the school board, probably in the spring.

   “Then you can call for the election,” Jaeger said to the board members. “If all of that comes together, we should be ready to go by November of 2024. The timeline, in my mind, seems doable if you’re on board with it.”

   Jaeger said he knew people would question of whether a bond election, six years after the previous one, would be too soon.

   He added, however, that waiting longer would mean greater cost.

   “The biggest reason, I think, is that each year that we wait to do this, it’s about a 5 percent increase in pricing,” Jaeger said. “That’s the biggest thing that bothers me.”

   “I agree that the materials go up (in cost) every year,” board member John Schlarmann said.

   Stadtmueller cautioned that there might be some pushback from the community.

   “I think we’ll have some in the community who will say, ‘What? We’re building another school already.?’ I think there will be a little bit of a hump there to overcome,” Stadtmueller said.