MEEKER | The Meeker Board of Education approved a plan Monday to dip into the district’s reserves to pay for upgrades at Starbuck Stadium. The project, which includes expanding the restrooms and making improvements to the concessions area, is expected to cost about $500,000.
Initially, the district expected to use contingency funds leftover from the high school/bus garage construction to fund the improvements at the stadium, but discovery of an accounting oversight in the construction project budget forced the board to decide whether to table the plan or access reserve funding to pay for it.
According to Superintendent Chris Selle, the district has been carrying about $4 million in reserves for years, which is about $2 million more than is required.
The board was generally in agreement that since permits have already been acquired from the state, with a waiver to limit the number of toilets and sinks approved, that moving forward now was a better bet for the district.
“The restrooms are at the point where we are going to have to do something with them,” Selle said, either close them or upgrade them.
“We may not have another chance to fix it,” said board member Bill deVergie. According to deVergie, members of the district’s executive committee were “pretty unanimous” about the need to do the upgrade.
The board also discussed BEST grants to be awarded for safety upgrades and air quality improvement at Barone Middle School and landscaping issues at the high school.
By NIKI TURNER – editor@editorht1885.com
