The Three Lakes town board next month will consider whether to place advisory referendums on the November ballot to renovate the town hall building, and the nearby Demmer Library. At a special meeting Wednesday two advisory referendums were forwarded for consideration on August 2. One referendum would allow up to $ 900,000 for expansion to the Demmer Library and a second resolution would ask for up to $1.8 million for town office renovation. Should the town board approve asking for the advisory referendums, they would appear on the November 8 ballot.
Meanwhile, the Lakeland Union High School Board of Education will be asked at a special meeting Aug. 4th to approve a performance contract that sets the stage for millions of dollars in large-scale facility improvements at the high school in Minocqua. The school board has already approved spending upwards of $14.66 million to complete the projects over the next few years. With expected board approval, the district will contract with Schneider Electric Building Americas, Inc., to undertake those projects.
Upgrades to the building’s heating, air handling and plumbing systems are seen as necessary for two reasons: to reduce energy costs, and to replace equipment and systems near or already past their expected lifespan. The board is especially concerned about the building’s hot water and steam boilers, which would shutter the school if they fail during winter. The steam boiler dates back 59 years to 1957. The hot water boiler was installed in 1957, putting it at 45 years old.
The board’s finance committee Tuesday approved a few changes to the list of projects that range from installing new boilers to installing solar panels on the high school roof. The finance committee agreed to reduce the capacity of the solar photovoltaic panels. The original 400-kilowatt (KW) design would not return sufficient dollars to offset the cost, said Schneider representative Scott Mason. “As we applied other energy (conservation) measures, that 400 KW was producing more (electricity) than the building needed,” he explained. Nor could the district “sell” electricity back to Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) in a profitable way because of WPS restrictions. The change now calls for a 275 KW system, a savings of some $300,000. Nearly similar dollar reduction was realized by omitting air handling/cooling changes for the pool room and weight room. The finance committee also deleted stadium lighting ($262,609) and electric hand dryers in bathrooms ($303,153) in order to heklp cover the cost of replacing fiberboard ducts that serve air-handling systems with sheet metal ducts. The latter will cost $1.14 million. The school board will get a detailed and updated look at the projects and financing at its Monday, July 25 meeting.
The district had to publish a legal notice of the intent to award the performance contract, giving the public at least 10 days advance notice. That resulted in the special meeting. Going into the finance meeting, Schneider Electric had reduced the overall cost of the 20 projects by some $642,000, including $100,000 less for roofing work. But adding the ductwork brought the total cost back to $14,598,464 – just under the ceiling of the resolution authorizing the bond issue.
Director of Business Finance Greg Kopp laid out a few financing scenarios for the committee to consider. He recommends that the district issue two bond issues to finance the projects’ cost. Keeping each under $10 million (still a total of $14.66 million) will reduce the interest rate. With a 20-year term, the two-bond issue would save $659,295 compared to the one-bond issue. Switching to a 15-year term would save the district even more money. The two-bond issue would save $478,984 vs. the one-bond issue. The shorter term and two-bond issue would save $1,227,635. Those figures as well as the projected mil rate placed on the property levy for these projects will change because Kopp’s calculations were based on a total $14,017,454 cost. Nonetheless, he projected a levy of $1.91 for debt service for 2015-16, $1.86 the following year and $1.84 for the third year. Lawyers for Schneider Electric and the district are hammering out contract language with Mason saying the final draft should be done by Friday. Both Mason and Kopp held up the high level of cooperation between Schneider Electric engineers and the staff and administration of LUHS. Schneider Electric spent the last seven months looking at every possible energy savings measure, thoroughly investigating the infrastructure and talking with teachers and others about their wants and concerns, including suitable comfort levels needed for teaching and learning, Mason said. District Administrator/Principal Jim Bouche added praise to Schneider Electric representatives for their ability to tie multiple systems together. Schneider Electric is guaranteeing that there will be no change orders – an issue that plagued the school’s auditorium renovation last year – from their end. Anything they missed would be their cost. (Although the district could ask – and pay – for a change order.) They are also guaranteeing – the driving force – that the district will save $2,239,703 in energy costs over the next 15 years, or they will cut the district a check for the difference. “We are held to the result at the end,” Mason said. “We will be measuring and verifying and guaranteeing over the course of the next 15 years – telling you that we met or did not meet that level of savings.” An additional $2 million in energy cost savings should be realized – but not guaranteed – over the life of the various equipment. For instance, solar panels are expected to last for 30 years, mechanical equipment 25 year, LED lighting 25 years.
Energy savings will be measured by actual dollars saved by reduced natural gas and electricity bills, and by reduced staff maintenance of systems. Mason also said that if they found additional savings through lower contract bids that the money would go to the district. Kopp said the money would be used to pay down the debt, or to fund other eligible projects.
