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Gibraltar Preparing for April Building Referendum

Formal question for voters expected to be developed by Jan. 9

On the heels of the successful passage in November of the $14.9 million building referendum for the Southern Door School District, the Gibraltar School District is now preparing a multimillion-dollar building referendum for the April ballot.

Formulating that question precisely and outlining the project will require a series of steps that must take place in fewer than two months, so school leaders will take those steps during the coming weeks, guided by Building Committee chair Don Helm. Gibraltar schools’ superintendent, Brett Stousland, said the board has asked him to schedule meetings with architects and then potential contractors who can describe how they would replace the oldest elementary and middle-school portions of the building.

During the Dec. 12, 6 pm, school board meeting, the board will delve deeper into the emergency projects to handle this summer with budgeted funds, versus major projects to take on with voters’ permission. Stousland said that by the Dec. 19 meeting, he should have a preliminary proposal ready for the board, followed by a formal referendum proposal at the Jan. 9 meeting – with time to spare to notify county election officials by Jan. 24 of a building-bond referendum for the April 4 ballot.

Board president Stephen Seyfer said board members toured the Sevastopol school buildings before Thanksgiving.

“They have a combination of wonderful, new construction and renovation of older sections to make it a very viable contemporary school,” Seyfer said of the neighboring district.

During that tour, they saw how contractors could refurbish and repair the most viable wings of a school and then demolish old portions and build new sections with large-group spaces, modern lighting, wide hallways and movable room dividers.

“The Gibraltar school board has a continuing concern for our facilities,” Seyfer said. “As with many rural schools, we are an amalgam of construction. Part of our school is dated to 1930, with additions in the 1950s, the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.” 

Seyfer said that when school board members ask themselves whether those pieces and parts satisfy an educational facility for today, “we know that they do not.”

Estimators and architects from Milwaukee-based CG Schmidt Construction recently appraised the school’s needs and shortcomings, both major and minor. 

In October, representatives from CG Schmidt told the board that renovating and repairing all existing portions of the school, bringing it up to modern codes and into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and then building a 25,000-square-foot addition to accommodate modern, larger classrooms would cost $51 million.

The same representatives said that updating modern sections, and then demolishing and rebuilding older sections would cost about $37 million. 

If the board decides to proceed toward an April referendum, Stousland said he would welcome residents into the building to see the issues the architects have pinpointed. He said communication with taxpayers will be key, and he’s willing to schedule public meetings, visit coffee clubs and speak to community groups to make things clear.

Stousland, who became the district’s new superintendent earlier this year, following the retirement of Tina Van Meer, said that he had, in the past, shepherded the Barneveld School District through successful referendums for more than $16 million in demolition, refurbishment and new construction.

Stousland said the Barneveld situation was similar to Gibraltar’s in terms of campus needs, but it was very different from the perspective of local taxes. Barneveld had a much less wealthy tax base and saw its mill rate rise by $2.75 per $1,000 of taxable value. So far, Stousland estimates that a referendum at Gibraltar would cause the mill rate to rise by as little as 27 cents per $1,000.

“If it goes to referendum and is approved in April, we would spend the next year in the design phase,” Stousland said, noting that the district could issue bonds and invest and grow those funds for a year before breaking ground in 2024. 

The Southern Door School District is taking a similar approach toward investing after voters narrowly passed its capital-projects referendum this fall.

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