Residents question track plans

Plans for the replacement of the Rib Lake high school track this spring came under fire from district residents concerned about plans to keep it at six lanes rather than expanding it to eight lanes.

Residents Mitch Peters, Andy Dums and Mark Matyka were at the March 26 Rib Lake School Board meeting to ask questions about the track project, referendum project and offer input on plans to replace the district’s technology education teacher who is resigning at the end of the year.

Although a longterm need for the district, replacement of the high school track had been taken out of the list of projects for the referendum based on community survey feedback that showed mixed support for it. Instead, district administrator Travis Grubbs and others have been working to raise funds through private donations and grants to cover the cost of the track replacement project. To date, their efforts have raised about $320,000 toward the project with an additional $10,000 from the county’s power line impact fee funds subject to approval at the full county board meeting later this month. The overall project costs based on bids accepted last month, put the price tag for the project at about $450,000 to replace the existing 6-lane track with one the same size. The school board had approved using budgeted and reserved funds to cover the difference and ensure the project was completed.

According to Grubbs, increasing the track size to eight lanes would cost an additional $150,000. “I would love to have an eight-lane track, but tracks are expensive,” Grubbs said.

Grubbs explained that even with an eight-lane track, Rib Lake would not be able to host the conference meet since the conference bylaws alternate that meet between Stratford, Marathon and Abbotsford which are centrally located in the conference. Likewise, the lack of community amenities makes hosting a sectional meet unlikely. “We are not going to host a 12-team meet,” Grubbs said.

Grubbs noted Edgar has a strong track program and also only has a sixlane track. He cautioned against the district following the path that Prentice did where they had raised money for a new track and decided to go with a larger track but ran out of money to finish and it is sitting incomplete and unusable for hosting any meets.

See RIB LAKE on page 4 “It was built wrong in the first place, why are you going to rebuild it wrong again now?” Matyka said.

He compared the decision to build a six lane track to deciding to build a new basketball court and only putting a basketball net on one side. The residents expressed concern that they want the track replacement project to be done right.

Compared to the district’s budget and the amount being spent on the referendum projects, they said the additional money to build an eight lane track versus a six lane track did not amount to much and urged the district to go with a larger track.

“Why are the track and field and cross country kids being left behind?” the residents asked.

While the board could potentially decide to use referendum dollars toward the project, Grubbs said that he had given his word to residents that the track was not included in the referendum projects and did not intend to go back on his word.

He noted that the new six-lane track would allow the district to host six to eight team meets, which is far above anything the district has been able to host in the past.

In related action, board members continued their discussion on whether to pulverize and reuse the 4.5 to 5 inches of asphalt surface on the current track or to have all the material removed and fresh material hauled in for the base. Grubbs explained that drainage is a major issue with the existing track with water collecting in the infield not being able to drain out. Recycled asphalt as a base material would not not be as porous as new gravel and would potentially create the same water issues experienced now.

Board members favored starting with the fresh gravel base, but supported ideas to work with the contractors to reuse the removed blacktop and have it ground and applied to improve district parking lots.

Earlier in the meeting, the board had approved a plan for Jannick to remove and grind up the blacktop in the parking lot between the middle and high school buildings. The material will be applied on top of what has been a community outdoor hockey rink. That lot will be used for parking as the construction project to build a gym and connection between the middle and high schools will take place this summer. Board members approved spending up to $20,000 for the grinding and reuse of this blacktop material.

According to Grubbs, while the formal groundbreaking on the project took place the morning of March 26, the district and contractors are at the mercy of the spring weather and when road weight limits come off before heavy construction work can continue.

As the district prepares for the construction work, Grubbs updated the board on what has been done so far and had them pick the official shade of maroon that will be used throughout the project.

Grubbs said work is underway in the shop areas with plans to make a move at the end of the school year. He also updated the board on the planned mezzanine area that was intended as a sound booth above the band area to serve the performance space. Plans for that had hit a snag with disagreements between the district and state inspector reviewing the plans. They reached a way to reconfigure stairs to the space to allow it to be used for storage. “He was very nitpicking on that space,” Grubbs said.

As far as the color picking, Grubbs presented three different shades of maroon paint colors, asking the board to weigh in on which should be selected as the official one for use in the construction project and going forward throughout the buildings.

He noted that currently there are about 10 different shades of burgundy and maroons used throughout the high school building and as part of the construction project they working to get the new areas to all match each other. After some discussion and the comparisons, board members agreed on the shade that is titled “Sun Dried Tomato.”

In other building project updates, Grubbs reported the district received a $50,000 grant from Wisconsin Focus on Energy and a $5,000 grant from Excel Energy for a project to convert the school buildings to LED lights. This had been planned as part of the referendum projects. According to Grubbs, Excel Energy estimated the district would see a savings of $33,000 a year from the conversion project.

In other construction related business, residents raised concerns about plans to have the kitchen remain in the middle of the building rather than being relocated to an outside wall that would allow direct delivery access. Currently, items must be wheeled down the hallway of the building from the outside door. There were concerns this creates a security risk with the high likelihood the door would be propped open as the delivery takes place.

In other business, board members:

• Received an update on the budget process, Grubbs cautioned that indications at the state level are that the legislature is not in a hurry to get a budget passed and that it might be into the fall before a state budget is finalized.

• Approved renewing property insurance with EMC at a cost increase of not to exceed $38,859. The district anticipated an increase with the revaluation of its buildings that took place over the past year. Grubbs noted the school complex was valued at about $38 million. He said the industry standard is about $1,000 in insurance cost per million of value. Last year the district paid $32,000 for property insurance. Grubbs cautioned that as the construction projects are completed, the cost will go up in the future.

• Accepted the resignation of the tech ed teacher at the end of the year. Peters called on board members to look for someone with practical hands-on knowledge across a variety of areas for the tech ed department. He noted his daughter had her first woods class this year in 7th grade and in entry level woods classes aren’t building anything. He noted that when he was in 7th grade wood shop at Rib Lake, they were building toyboxes. “I would like to see more money spent on the trades,” Peters said, noting that skills taught in the trades stay with students and are used as they go forward in life even to being able to handle projects as a homeowner.