School board OKs stadium plan

Mitchell will get a new $2.9 million stadium to replace the aging concrete structure at Joe Quintal Field.

With some minor misgivings for a project that will cost $400,000 higher than original projections, the Mitchell school board swiftly approved a recommended bidding package that awarded the job’s $1.468 million general construction contract to Gil Haugan Construction, of Sioux Falls, Monday after briefly considering input from Mitchell residents and several district officials.

School board members, after hearing input from residents, quickly moved to unanimously approve the recommended bids for the project that added more than $400,000 to the stadium’s anticipated $2.5 mil- lion cost.

The cost of the $2,901,903 project will be paid from the following sources:

• $2.5 million, from bond proceeds.

• $231,080, from capital outlay reserves.

• $50,000, anonymous donation.

• $50,000, leftover contingency funds from the Longfellow Elementary School project.

• $20,000, in the form of a fee reduction, from the Puetz Corporation, the project’s construction manager.

• $17,823, a contribution from Dakota Wesleyan University for goal posts.

• $15,000, Mitchell Athletic Booster Club.

• $10,000 in interest income from bond proceeds.

• $8,000 in capital outlay funds from the district’s 2009-2010 budget.

Superintendent Joe Graves said higher-than-anticipated construction costs were the reason for the increased bid numbers. To pare those costs, he said, about $525,000 in project extras, or “alternates,” were eliminated, including better bleacher seating for visitors.

“I think, at this time, that the project should move forward,” he said.

The prevailing opinion among those who spoke at Monday’s board meeting is that “it’s time.”

“It’s long, long overdue,” said Mitchell resident, Pete Bruce, a 1971 alumnus of Mitchell High School.

“It’s an embarrassment to the community and it was a pit 40 years ago,” said Bruce, who urged swift approval of the project.

Greg Girard, district building and grounds superintendent, promised that the project will be “a stadium the Mitchell School District will be proud of for years to come.”

The efficient design of the stadium building will reduce labor and maintenance, Girard said, adding that the project also will be safe and handicap accessible.

Craig Guymon said he is not against a new stadium, but the current project is about $650,000 above its earliest projections. He asked if the numbers were ever put to paper for a complete rehabilitation of the present stadium. Graves said no costs were ever developed but knowledgeable construction experts assured the district that renovating the 70-year-old stadium would be cost-prohibitive and a poor use of district funds.

Guymon persisted.

“You owe it to all the people to put it to a vote,” he said.

Wayne Puetz said his company designed the stadium and will oversee its construction, “but this is not a Puetz Corporation project,” he said, noting that all bids were taken in an open-market fashion from many qualified construction professionals.

“If we made a mistake, it’s that we tried to make things nicer for the next 80 years,” he said.

Puetz said the pre-cast construction system to be used on the stadium will last twice as long and be safer than traditional block construction.

“You won’t get it any cheaper and you’ll spend a whole lot more next year,” he said.

Board member Brenda Freidel supports the project, but said she has “mixed feelings because it was so much over budget.” She asked if coaches and officials spaces in the new plan could be trimmed for savings.

Mark Puetz, of the Puetz Corporation, said a reduced design would sacrifice functionality.

Jim Johnston, a longtime sports official from Mitchell, said the new design is preferred because it allows game officials to enter the playing field and to leave the stadium without having to wade through crowds.

Board member Eric Christensen said approval to build the new stadium project should be considered phase one of a long-term project. He also reminded audience members that the school district has not shut the door to naming rights for the new stadium and is hopeful that visitors’ bleachers can be added in the future.

Board President Dana Price said Mitchell residents of the early 1940s sacrificed in tough economic times to build the first stadium.

“How can we do less? It’s time for us to make this change and it’s time to do it now,” he said.

In other business Monday the board approved:

• The following personnel items:

Transfer: Sherrie Wermers, from Mitchell High School night custodian to day custodian at Longfellow Elementary School.

Resignations: Jeremiah Kirchmeyer, network technician, MTI, effective March 26; Annika Russell, half-time keyboarding, middle school, effective end of 2009-2010 school year.

New hires: Shawn Peters, night custodian, MHS, eight hours daily at $10 an hour, effective March 11; Annika Russell, full-time accounting and business management instructor, MTI, effective for 2010-2011 school year.

Extracurricular hire: Diane Way, seventh- and eighthgrade assistant volleyball coach, $1,655, effective 2010-2011 school year.

Early retirement: Janet Edwards, special education, middle school; Marilyn Forst, curriculum director; Robert Hilton, science instructor, middle school; Larry Hostler, ag instructor, MTI — all effective at the end of the 2009-2010 school year.

• Graves said the district will not fill Forst’s position next year, but in a cost-cutting move, her job will be divided among several district administrators.

• School exemption (homeschooling) requests.

• A second reading of action that deletes policies that pertain to MTI from the district’s K-12 policy manual.

• MTI budget supplements from grant money totaling about $280,000

• Updates to the high school handbook for the 2010-2011 school year.

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