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Weathersfield schools pay off stadium loan
By Mary Smith
MINERAL RIDGE
The Weathersfield Board of Education has approved paying off the balance of $147,576 still owed on a loan for the $1.5 million Joe Lane Stadium renovations and additions done in 2000.
The balance of the debt with Farmers National Bank is all that the school had left to pay on a 10-year loan for the stadium of $950,000, which is being paid off two years early.
Schools Treasurer Laurena Rouan said the early repayment will save the district $16,920 in interest.
Rouan said a large part of the money to repay the debt came from pledges, which totalled $471,765.
The board pledged $250,000 toward the project, and paid an additional $25,000 each year for past three years for a total of $75,000 to pay down the principle for a total of $325,000.
The board Wednesday approved taking an additional $153,235 from the general fund to the Joe Lane Stadium Fund to make the final payment of $147,576 to the bank.
The late Joe Lane made a donation of $500,000 toward the stadium, which got the ball rolling. After Lane died, his family continued making yearly donations to reach the $500,000 goal.
The board also approved a resolution to name Hammond Construction Inc. of Canton as the “construction manager at risk,” a requirement for the Ohio School Facilities Commission project totalling $25.4 million.
Hammond’s fee will be $508,422.
The state is giving $17.8 million and the district has approved a bond issue of $7.5 million, with an additional $529,139 in local funds to help pay for the construction of a new junior high gymnasium at $1.5 million.
Hammond is expected to pay for any cost overruns, since the company has been working with MS Consultants of Youngstown on the design of Seaborn Elementary and the high school.
“They know every nook and cranny” of the construction plans, Superintendent Damon Dohar said.
Seaborn will have 46 percent of its building demolished and renovated with an addition of 60,000 square feet.
The high school will have nine new classrooms added in the junior high wing and the new gymnasium. The remainder of the project will be renovations throughout the high school building. The high school will be enlarged from 80,000 square feet to 90,000 square feet.
Demolition starts on June 3 at both buildings. The superintendent noted that a public auction of Seaborn kitchen items, including a walk-in freezer, will be sold at a public auction at 10 a.m. Mondayat the school. Auctioneers will be the Tarazino Brothers of North Lima. To sign up for the auction, go to www.pbauctions.com.