School District 166 Superintendent Beth Schwarz and School Board Chair Jeanne Anderson appeared before the Cook County commissioners on Tuesday, January 21, 2014, thanking the county board for the collaboration that led to the construction of the Cook County Community YMCA on the west end of the school building. Schwarz said, “It’s a wonderful asset to the community and the school district has already benefitted greatly. I believe also the numbers have gone way beyond what everyone thought. So that is absolutely awesome.”
Schwarz said the collaboration to develop the facility was critical and she hoped that would continue. For that reason, Schwarz said she and Anderson wanted to bring forward some issues that needed to be dealt with, including an outstanding fuel bill of $25,271.84.
Schwarz said that back in August 2013 a verbal agreement was made regarding the costs the school district would absorb in the county project. In addition to the propane bill, Schwarz provided billing information from the school for some other miscellaneous expenses, including toilet repairs due to gravel in a water line and food loss because of a power surge during construction.
Schwarz said the school district cannot continue carrying the project’s heating costs. “We do have an outstanding payment that’s due and I guess we are wondering where we are at,” she said, noting that another 9,300 gallons of propane were to be delivered the next day. “That’s going to be another large bill.”
County Administrator Jay Kieft apologized for the delay and said, “I appreciate your patience with that.”
Kieft said he, ORB Management, Auditor Braidy Powers and Commissioner Sue Hakes had met yesterday and reviewed the numbers. Kieft noted that there were some problems with metering so some calculations needed to be done to determine the final amount due to the school. But he said the county would make a payment as soon as possible for most of the expense.
Schwarz also expressed concern over the stress being placed on the school’s boiler system. She said the school district was under the impression that the school’s boilers were to heat only the area outside of the aquatics center and that the pool area was to be heated by another source. She said the sales agreement drawn up called for a 75/25 split on boiler maintenance costs. Schwarz said if the plan is for the school boilers to heat a larger area, the agreement needs to be revisited.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he remembered hearing discussion about excess boiler capacity. He said he thought the school was on board with use of the existing boilers for the entire facility. He asked Wade Cole of ORB Management for his comments.
Cole apologized for any misunderstanding. “I was not aware that she was not aware that the pool area would use the HVAC for the entire pool area. When Dunham designed, they were wondering, in a winter like this, could the existing boilers handle it? It’s proven it does have the capacity to heat the additional footage and the school.”
Regarding energy consumption during construction, Cole said they were able to look at the meters and confirm numbers just the day before. However, he said, “The big question is what is a fair number for when the meters were not running?”
Commissioner Garry Gamble said he sees the matter as a separate issue, what is owed up to the YMCA opening and now. However, Gamble said, “There is a commitment on the part of the county to meet its obligation.”
Martinson agreed, “We are definitely required to meet our commitment, but for construction it will come out of 1 percent funding.”
A unanimous motion was passed to pay $18,262 in fuel costs to School District 166.
Community Ed concerns
Schwarz said the school board did agree to move Community Ed to the new community center. However, she said it was the school district’s understanding that there would be two offices for community education’s use. She said that space is important as the school district gave up its office space when it sold the west end of the building to the county. Schwarz also said it was understood that the building would include signage on the outside of the building to let the public know that community education is housed there. She noted that the school receives funding from the State of Minnesota to operate a community education department. She said community education offers important after school activities and serves low-income families. “It would be a shame to lose that,” she said.
Commissioner Sue Hakes said, “Community Ed has always been a part of the project, a valued part of the project… the success of Community Ed, the success of the YMCA, and the success of the school are dependent on each other.”
Hakes noted that there are four private offices to share between the Y and Community Education and said, “Because of the success of the project, it’s growing!”
She said this is something that is being looked at by the YMCA board.
Hakes also said she would follow up on the signage question.
Building security question
Schwarz noted that the school and the YMCA are not yet totally separated. She said the door to the teen game room (formerly the Jane Mianowski Conference Center) opens into the school. She said she doesn’t want students entering the YMCA whenever they want through that door and she doesn’t want people not affiliated with the school entering through that door. Schwarz asked for authorization to remove and wall off that door.
Commissioners asked if there was a potential fire risk in closing an exit. Schwarz said she did not think so, but she had asked Facilities and Transportation Director Tom Nelson to ensure that was not the case. Commissioner Hakes asked if there was some way to keep the door, in case it is needed at some point in the future, but to securely lock it. Schwarz said she will check on that.
Later in the meeting, YMCA Executive Director Emily Marshall gave an update on memberships at the Y. She said there are now 137 adult units, 27 one-parent family units, 228 two-adult family units, 31 Silver and Fit units, 34 Silver Sneaker units and 67 youth units, for a total of 1,047 members. She reminded the county board that the SEERS study conducted by the YMCA estimated that the Y would see 111 memberships at its opening.
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