Group: Support school bond

The bond issue would cost the owner of a $50,000 home about $113 per year.

By ERIC GROSSO

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

BROOKFIELD — Representatives from the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission and an Akron architectural firm met with about 75 school district residents Sunday about plans to rebuild district schools via a bond issue and substantial state aid.

Darin Vandila, leader of a five-member citizens group hoping to gain support for the 7.4-mill issue, headed the town hall meeting.

“This is the first step in getting the community involved,” said Vandila.

The board voted Saturday to place a 7.4-mill issue on the Nov. 6 ballot to pay for the rebuilding. The bond issue would raise the district’s share of approximately $11 million of the proposed $31 million project.

No firm building plans are in place, but the state has recommended building one K-12 building to replace all of its current buildings.

The 28-year bond would cost an owner of a $50,000 home approximately $113 per year, while the increase would be $170 for a resident with a home appraised at $75,000, according to the Trumbull County auditor.

The bond issue includes 0.5 mills for maintenance costs of the new building and 1.6 mills for Local Funded Issues, which include purchases made by the district that are not covered by OSFC funding. These could include new sporting fields, computers, swimming pools, geothermal heating and auditoriums. The remaining 5.3 mills would supplement state funding for construction.

Current buildings

A slide show presented current conditions of district schools. Many of the images showed cracked interior walls and exterior bricks, outdated plumbing and wiring, inefficient windows and heating systems, leaking roofs and deteriorating foundations.

An OSFC report on the district earlier this year recommended that all of the district’s current buildings either be abandoned or demolished because of the amount of hazardous materials still contained within the construction materials in the buildings.

Brookfield High School and Brookfield Elementary were built in 1958, Stevenson Elementary and Brookfield Middle School in 1926, and Addison Elementary in 1923.

Rick Savors, chief of communications for the OSFC, noted the goal of the commission is to come up with a districtwide plan with local community input. However, he said the OSFC doesn’t make a specific master plan until a district can provide a share of the funding.

Brookfield has one year to provide the funding or it will move to the bottom of the OSFC funding list.

According to Savors, if the bond issue is passed, the OSFC will provide warranties, code inspections, professional reviews, on-site management and numerous walk-throughs during the construction process.

New buildings

He said the new buildings have a 40- to 50-year life expectancy.

Mark Salopek of GPD Associates, an Akron architectural firm, said the new school would be approximately 155,000 square feet.

Salopek has been working with the district since November.

Salopek suggested building on new property would be more cost-efficient than demolishing the current buildings. In order to house high school students in different buildings during the construction process, Brookfield would have to make costly repairs to its current buildings, which would significantly drive up the project price, he said.

If a bond issue is passed, Salopek said it takes around 30 months from start to finish on OSFC-funded school projects.

“It’s your tax money that goes to Ohio, and right now, the state is trying to give all that money back to you,” said Salopek.

Salopek said the new facility could be placed on a 44-acre parcel of land on Bedford Road across from Tiffany Manor.

He said extensive studies are completed before any property is bought.

Vandila said the group is planning a similar meeting before the Nov. 6 vote, but did not yet have a specific date set.