District 65’s Finance Committee members voted unanimously to recommend to the full Board a list of capital projects to be paid for the most part from a bond issue. Mary Brown, assistant superintendent for business services, said the District is able to issue up to $6 million in bonds through the debt service extension base. The total cost of the projects is $4.2 million, Dr. Brown said, and $500,000 cash on hand from the 2015 bond issue could be used toward the projects, reducing the total amount needed though a bond issue from $4.2 million to $3.7 million.
Among the projects recommended are asbestos abatement and flooring replacement, plumbing projects and mechanical work at several schools, a food service steam table for King Arts School, lighting in the Dawes School auditorium and the Lincoln storm water project.
The committee also recommended $1.9 million for technology, but agreed that the purchases or leases of equipment, or a combination of the two, would be specified later. Committee members removed two projects from the list that had previously been recommended – a private registration office in the Hill Education Center and new lockers at Bessie Rhodes School.
The Board is expected to discuss the matter at its Feb. 22 meeting. If the Board approves the bond issue, it will go forward this month, and work on the projects will begin in the spring.