Work to begin on Fairmont stadium

Replacing the Roush turf is one of two athletic facility projects planned following the March 15 passage of a 3.4-mill, continuous, permanent improvement levy that will generate about $3.96 million a year.

Installing soccer field turf at Fairmont High School, which will follow this spring, is also among several capital projects the district wants to complete this year, Lackey said.

Most of them “are kind of shovel ready,” he said. “You don’t need a lot of preplanning, you don’t need architectural work.”

Also planned are paving projects at John F. Kennedy, Southdale and Prass elementaries, as well as completion of the Prass roof. About five buses will be purchased, as will additional security cameras for the most of the buildings, he said.

Funds from the levy, which will cost $119 annually to the owner of a home valued at $100,000, will not be available until 2017, Lackey said. But he said the district expects to spend more than $2 million on projects this year and will borrow based on the future levy revenue.

Superintendent Scott Inskeep has said the string of bigger projects will start next year after planning and bidding. These will include auditorium renovations at Fairmont and the middle schools, expanding the career tech — which will offer firefighter certifications — and implementing all-day kindergarten, according to the district.

“Early planning numbers” on the auditorium renovations is “somewhere between a $5 million and $6 million,” Lackey said.

The ability to plan how and when projects will go forward is a significant advantage of the continuous levy, Lackey said.

“We’re going to be much less reactionary to our facility needs and much more proactive in that we can plan,” he said. “We have the money to plan when the projects are going to be occur.

“We can get out early with our bids and we know the earlier you get out with your bids…..you typically get a lot better numbers back from the bidders because they’re looking for work for the summer rather than waiting until later, which sometimes we had to do because we didn’t know if we would have the money to complete a project during the summer or not.”