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Board working on bond details
Published 4/15/2008 in News : Area coverage
By EMILY BEHLMANN
ebehlmann@gctelegram.com
With financial advisers and architects on board, the USD 457 Board of Education is moving along with a bond issue expected to go on November's ballot.
The board voted 6-0 Monday night to approve hiring a team of Ranson Financial Consultants LLC and PiperJaffray, both of Wichita, as financial advisers on the issue.
Two architectural firms also were approved to work jointly and develop plans for a proposed new high school to replace the current, crowded building, plus renovations at several other school buildings. The approved firms are DLR group of Overland Park and Gibson, Mancini, Carmichael and Nelson from Garden City.
The cost of the bond issue will be determined after the architects have completed building plans, but early estimates place it at about $90 million.
The funds would pay for a facility plan approved by the board last month. It would:
n Construct a new high school with space for 2,250 students, with room for expansion to house 2,500 students.
n Convert the current GCHS building into a middle school, primarily for Abe Hubert Middle School students and staff. Additional middle school space would allow mobile classrooms at the district's two middle schools to be eliminated.
n Convert Abe Hubert Middle School into an elementary school for use by Garfield Elementary School students and staff.
n Convert Garfield into an early childhood building that would centralize programs currently spread among elementary schools.
n Develop J.D. Adams Hall, adjacent to GCHS, for other uses, such as an alternative school, a virtual school or a day treatment center.
John Haas, of Ranson Financial Consultants, said the general finance company partnered with PiperJaffray for its proposal because of the other firm's experience with school districts.
In 2007, PiperJaffray worked with USD 308 Hutchinson on issuing a $78.8-million bond that voters approved in 2006. In 2008, the group worked on a $98.8-million bond issue at USD 305 Salina.
The two financial firms each would assign two people to USD 457's job, Haas said.
"We will participate to the greatest extent with your campaign committee on getting information out to the patrons," he said.
The advisers would charge a $50,000 fee only after successful closing of a bond issue, so the district wouldn't owe anything if the bond issue failed, he said.
George K. Baum & Co., a Wichita firm, also responded to USD 457's request for proposals but Superintendent Rick Atha said the firm proposed to underwrite the entire project, and the district didn't want to make that commitment.
The architectural firms would work together on the project because DLR Group has significant experience in building high schools, while Gibson, Mancini, Carmichael and Nelson is familiar with Garden City and has worked previously with USD 457, Atha said.
On a successful bond, the architects would charge 5.75 percent of the cost of a new construction project, and 7.5 percent of the cost of additions, renovations and improvement projects.
If the bond failed, the district would have to pay a smaller amount for the services rendered up to that point, such as drawings of the proposed buildings, Atha said. The cost would be no more than a quarter-percent of the cost of the proposed bond issue, he said.
He said selection of the financial adviser and architect put the board well on its way toward putting a proposal before the public.
"You have to have these two pieces to where you can proceed to get it out so it's transparent, to where the voter can make an informed decision," he said.
The last piece would be acquisition of land for the proposed new high school. Atha said he has been talking to Realtors representing property north and northeast of town, inside the U.S. Highway 50/83 Bypass. According to a tentative timeline, the board would make a decision on land by the end of May.
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