The Prescott School Board had an insightful board meeting Dec. 16, and it took some time to move through the agenda to the “meat and potatoes.”

In the first 2-1/2 hours of the meeting, the board also did some pretty heavy lifting. The audit of the district books was approved, as was a safety plan for district facilities. A bus was purchased. The board then heard an insightful presentation on the innovative High School FAB LAB (fabrication laboratory), which is partnering with community firms and is seeking grant funding.

That brought President Mike Matzek to this point in the meeting.

“Let’s follow up on the Dec. 2 work session. At 9:27. Yikes,” he said. “We saved the best for last.”

In the next hour of the meeting, the board worked with administration to put into focus a plan for facility improvements needed. The board decided that it will work toward a public information campaign in the next year and shoot for a referendum vote in Feb. 2022 for large-scale, needed maintenance projects recommended to be done by a facility needs study by the end of 2024.

The district had considered other projects and surveyed the community in October only to learn that the timing isn’t right for a referendum that would have tackled some facility upgrades to tailor buildings better for educational purposes as well as the maintenance items. At that time, the price tag for a referendum vote was put in the $20 million range.

The maintenance needs include roofs on three buildings, along with plumbing and electrical needs.

Superintendent Dr. Rick Spicuzza said there are some large items that can’t be tackled in the annual maintenance budget.

“We know that we have repairs and replacements costs that are coming due,” he said. “It’s like a puzzle. We have to put the different pieces together and figure out the best way to move forward. If there’s going to be a voter-approved investment, we have to signal that to the community and figure out what are the essential items to be covered.”

With the pandemic, it was a difficult year to get the district message across, and the survey was meant to be informational as well.

“They’re not yet ready to invest $16-$22 million. That was clear,” said Spicuzza.

The price for the necessary projects through 2024 could be in the neighborhood of $11 million.

Work through 2021 was broken down for the board as follows: Malone Elementary $272,000.

Malone Intermediate $2,900,000, Middle School $280,000.

Work through 2024 is projected at: Malone Elementary $2,500,000.

Malone Intermediate $2,700,000.

Middle School $2,400,000.

“If you’re calculating this at home, we’re looking at over $11 million,” Spicuzza said.

Spicuzza said the window to get approval is fairly narrow, as interest rates are at an alltime low.

“Sooner or later, they’re going to have to rise,” he said.

In addition, construction costs are projected to increase 3 percent for every year.

“We also know that some of the items sooner or later can be fixed but at some point, there’s going to be mass failure. You can’t continue to use a roof that leaks. We’ve lived that story before with the middle school. We understand those responsibilities are taken very seriously by the board,” said Spicuzza.

The district will have some money to earmark toward the project in a capital improvement, but board members were opposed to using the district’s fund balance that is used for operational purposes for the repairs.

Given the choice of planning toward a project that will require voter OK at referendum, the board decided it was best to wait a year to help get the word out. Spicuzza said the board will start to refine the process at its January meeting.

“If the board decides it wants to wait, the next time it could ask (voters) is Feb. 2022,” said Spicuzza. “If the board decides they want to wait and have a little longer runway to make connections with the community to understand these numbers, we would probably be recommending to the board that you include all things through 2022 so you’re not having to come back multiple times.”

“We need to move forward,” said board member Tonya Holub. “We need to replace these things. I believe absolutely we need to invest in the maintenance of our buildings. That’s a priority me for.

“To me, this is a referendum question. I don’t see any other way for us to fund the maintenance of our buildings,” she said.

By holding off until February 2022 for the vote, it gives the district time to get a concrete plan in place and convey the message.

“I want to get everything organized and together, so we know what we’re spending our money on and the community knows what we’re spending money on. We need to do this to keep our maintenance up on our buildings,” said Vicki Rudolph.

Said Matzek, “I think getting the community involvement and getting community awareness are the important things. We need to do a much better job and to focus for 2021 to get community awareness and buy-in, because we need this money.”