ONTARIO – Residents of the Ontario Local school district will see a 5.35-mill bond issue on their May ballots.
Four school board members voted Tuesday to put a 30-year bond issue before the voters. If passed the bond issue would generate $40.3 million to renovate the district’s existing facilities.
The May tax issue would cost property owners approximately $187 for every $100,000 of county auditor’s market value.
If the levy is approved, Ontario will receive an additional $19 million from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, an agency that (among other things) manages state funds for construction and renovation of public K-12 schools.
But those funds will be contingent on Ontario following through with a list of renovations deemed essential by the agency.
School board member Brett Baxter said that’s why he abstained from the vote.
“When they came through, there were some items that they chose what we needed to fix and I disagreed with that,” Baxter said. “I would rather our people tell us what needs fixed than an outsider coming in and saying it needed fixed.”
Most of the renovations are items the district will eventually need to complete in the future, treasurer Randy Harvey said last month.
The OFCC evaluates school buildings based largely on practical, infrastructure-related considerations like heating, cooling, ventilation, electric, plumbing, windows, structure, lighting, security systems, safety and handicap accessibility, according to representatives from the architecture firm Garmann Miller.
Their representative spoke at an Ontario school board meeting last month.
A summary of “big-ticket” renovations the district would pursue include:
- Heating ($17.7 million for both buildings)
- Electrical ($6.3 million for both buildings)
- Technology ($4.2 million for both buildings)
- Roofing ($1.2 million for Stingel Elementary)
- Plumbing ($1.1 million for the middle/high school)
- Site condition ($1.5 million for the middle and high school)
- General finishes ($3.3 million for both buildings)
The district’s plans also include several “locally funded initiatives” not required by the state, including a new press box, concession building and bleachers at the football stadium, as well as new tennis courts and a pavilion.
Board approves Safe Routes to School plan
The board also approved a Safe Routes to School plan developed by Burton Planning Services.
The plan was funded through a grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation. It examines how students travel to and from school, potential safety hazards, parental transportation concerns and recommendations for making it safer for students to walk or bike to school.
The plan is a requirement for the city of Ontario to apply for state Safe Routes to School funds, which can be used for sidewalks and other safety improvements directly connected to school routes.
Strickler said the school board’s vote is largely a symbolic way to show support for the project.
Any grant funds would flow through the city, which would be responsible for completing the work.
“What we wanted to do is just show that we are all unified in this effort to connect our community with Marshall Park and the school and with each other,” he said.
The plan’s recommendations include the installation of new sidewalks and a multi-use path through Marshall Park, as well as new pedestrian signals and crosswalks.
Strickler said many students aren’t able to walk to school, or if they do, they have to travel on the road or through the grass due to the lack of sidewalks.
“I grew up on Rudy Road and I walked and rode my bike up here all the time, but Ontario was different back then,” he said.
“Now there’s Shangri La (Avenue). There’s so much more development and the traffic is intense,” Strickler explained. “If I lived in the house I grew up in, there’s no way I’d let my kids walk to school.”
If the plan is enacted, he said, it would benefits students and the community at large.
Board approves consulting contract for financial and levy policy
The board also voted to approve a $40,000 consulting agreement with David Conley of Rockmill Financial Consulting for financial and levy policy consulting services.
Conley has recently worked with several local districts, including Lexington and Madison, to develop policies around how the district would seek local operating funds.
Those policies have taken into account trends and the statehouse and demographic factors like property values, homeownership rates and the percentage of residents on a fixed income.
Harvey vouched for Conley’s expertise and said he would advise the board based on information specific to Ontario Local Schools and its population.
Harvey said the district has a no immediate plans to seek additional operating funds, but advised having a plan in place for the future.
Strickler said he and Harvey recently had a two-hour meeting with Conley and were impressed by what he had to say.
“The more we talked to him, the more I wish we would have done this 5 or 6 years ago,” Strickler said.
The board also voted to accept the resignation of high school principal Chris Smith and intervention specialist Amy Kroll, effective at the end of the school year. Both individuals have expressed interest in returning to the district next fall under a “retire-rehire” contract.
