Rangely’s BAC, others help set bond priorities

RANGELY I The Bond Advisory Committee, BAC, was established by the board of education and the superintendent of schools in August 2011.
The board of education provided the superintendent with names of community members that have demonstrated integrity within the community and/or technical expertise for this project. The purpose of the BAC is to make a recommendation to the board regarding the appropriate expenditures for the final phase of the 2008 bond proceeds.
The superintendent interviewed and selected the BAC members. The members selected per the board recommendation were Brad Casto, Pat Lollar and Alan Ducey. The superintendent and John Potter completed the BAC. The BAC established a series of meetings to gather information for their recommendation to the board. The purpose of the timeline was to allow the board a month to consider the recommendation. A final approval in April would allow for the requisite time needed for contract evaluation and summer 2012 work commencement.
The superintendent organized a series of staff interviews to reconstitute a list of prospective bond projects priorities. These meetings were established to refocus the bond project with John Potter from Blythe Group and Blaine Buck from Bighorn Engineers present to be able to provide technical support. Their technical support allowed for staff recommendations to be translated into construction solutions: Jean Kenny, Steve Kraft, Jeff Bell, Glenda Halcomb, Berry Swenson, Bennie Bennett, Crandal Mergelman, Joanne Allred, Paulene Brady and Alicia Cushman.
The list of items gathered from the staff interviews were added to the established list created from earlier phases of the bond project. This established a comprehensive list. The entire staff was given a survey, whereby they selected the items from the compressive list that they believed to be of the highest importance (75 surveys were sent out, 38 were returned).
The maintenance supervisor for the district ranked her top 70 choices in order of highest to lowest importance. The building principals, transportation manager, IT director and finance director all participated in prioritizing their top choices. The technical expert, John Potter, was also asked to rank the items in order of the greatest mechanical need from an engineer’s perspective.
The entire staff was asked a second time to provide input. This time in a qualitative format. The BAC provide the staff with the list of proposed items and asked for comments both pro or con for the items which warranted the most or least considerations. This process was undertaken to gauge the level of significance for the items.
The BAC met to evaluate the prospective items for consideration. A rubric was developed and each item in the rubric could be weighted from a low of 1 to a high of 5. The rubric measured: safety, future savings, educational value, urgency and infrastructure protection. A composite score was developed from the BAC rubric, facilities supervisor rating, staff survey results, administrator priorities and engineers’ perspective. The items then were ranked in order of the composite score which represented everyone’s input. The items were then priced out. A reserve was established to protect against cost overruns.
The board of education decided to get a comprehensive evaluation of the HVAC systems. It insured that the bond monies were spent in accordance with the bond language/intent. The assessment found important issues to be corrected. Those concerns were added to the Phase III items and prioritized. The board approved Phase III expenditures. Phase III expenditures will occur over the next 24 months under the care and supervision of Alicia Cushman, maintenance supervisor for the school district.
The public is encouraged to seek information from superintendent Todd Cordrey with any concerns or questions at 675-2207 (work) or 629-8973 (cell).