WHITEHALL — The Whitehall school board unanimously voted to accept a quote from WinBerg Construction to fix the leaking school bus garage roof at its regular monthly meeting Monday.
The quote was for an amount not to exceed $51,223, though interim superintendent CJ Van Wieren said it is unlikely the price tag will be that high. Van Wieren said he had spoken with company president Brad VanBergen, who agreed that the roof is "an emergency situation and needs to get done as soon as possible." The board has discussed at previous meetings that the roof is well beyond its useful life, and its leaking is causing damage to interior ceilings.
Board treasurer Jimmy TenBrink added that the roof was a reminder to the board that it needs to let the community know how important bond proposals are to a healthy school district. He said replacing the roof was on a bond agenda that did not pass three years ago, and its current failure is a result of not being able to accomplish that.
"The ceiling is falling in
on our people's heads and now we're having to make changes," TenBrink said.
Van Wieren said the district's goal is to get the roof replacement done during the winter break, pending availability of materials.
The board also approved a budget amendment for the current school year. Adjustments were necessary because increased state funding the district expected did not come through, though the district is still seeing a bump from last school year due to the increased enrollmnt in the district. It was also noted that the budget reflects the end of American Rescue Plan Act funds which by law needed to be spent by the end of the school year; the district has nearly exhausted those funds anyway. There's also a slight uptick in administrative costs due to temporarily having two superintendents on the payroll; Jerry McDowell is retiring at the end of the year and Van Wieren was appointed interim superintendent prior to the school year.
