School to hire Baseman to replace elementary gym floor

This summer’s heavy rains resulted in a sizable insurance claim for floor damage at Medford Area Elementary School.

On June 25 the Medford area got a large amount of rain that fell in a short amount of time. The drains in the parking lot Medford Area Elementary School didn’t keep up causing the water to back up through the east doors and onto the gym floor.

School district staff sucked the water up right away but it was too late.

The water found its way under the gym floor and swelled causing the floor to buckle. District administrator Laura Lundy said they have been dealing with the district’s insurance provider, EMC, on this claim. EMC recommends that the district replace the gym floor and will only pay out the claim — totaling $150,000— if the entire floor is replaced.

At Monday’s school district finance committee meeting, members approved hiring Baseman Bros. of Johnson Creek to patch the 8 foot by 14 foot area now at a cost of about $7,450.

As part of the approval, Baseman would come back next summer and replace the entire gym floor at a cost of about $174,000. Director of Buildings and Grounds Adam Schwarz recommended going with Baseman, noting they have done quality work with other gym floors in the district, and that he believes the solid construction subfloor will hold up better in the long run compared to Stalker Sports Floors of New London. This is primarily due to the lift equipment the district regularly uses in the gym to clean and work on lights. Schwarz said he the Stalker proposal would have gaps in the subfloor which could potentially cause weak points in the future.

Stalker had submitted a proposal of $14,400 for the patch work and $161,650 for the full floor replacement.

Finance committee chairman Brian Hallgren supported following the recommendation of Schwarz noting that it will be Schwarz and his staff who will be maintaining the floor in the future.

The district has already received $80,000 in insurance payout for the floor. Finance director Audra Brooks advised using the amount need for the patch work now, and putting the remaining money money in the district’s capital savings account, Fund 46, and withdraw it next summer when the work is actually done. This will ensure the project falls under expenditures for this budget year when it comes to the state aid formula, which is partly based on the amounts districts spend.

Members of the finance committee also voted to move ahead with patching the asphalt that was removed as part of the plaza project for Raider Field. An approximately 10 foot strip had to be removed for the footings for the new fence.

The project was part of the Raider Field turf project completed several years ago which had been put on the back burner as fundraising efforts continued. Earlier this year the board had voted to go ahead with getting the project completed including the addition of tables and brick pavers.

Community members were given the opportunity to “purchase” bricks and the tables and benches as memorials with the money collected going to reduce the district’s expense for completing the plaza.

All of the benches and tables have been paid for and to date, more than half of the bricks have been paid for with district staff reporting a lot of interest in the remaining bricks. The plaza is scheduled to be completed by the opening first game of the season on August 30.

The blacktop had come up as a separate issue now, because the restoration had not been included in the initial project bid amount. Schwarz had come to the committee seeking direction on whether to replace it with compressed granite now and blacktop in the future or have it blacktopped right away.

Member Steve Deml worked off the price per square foot of the portion of the parking lot done this summer by the high school tennis courts and projected the restoration work would likely be about $10,000 given the amount of work that needs to be done. Schwarz was more conservative in his projections estimating the blacktop work at around $24,000.

“We have to get this done,” Hallgren said of the project, favoring having it completed now rather than dragging it out another summer.

Board president Dave Fleegel agreed and noted the district has the money in its fund balance to pay for the work to be done this fall.

In other business, finance committee members:

• Recommended approving routine renewals for the district’s property, general liability, workers compensation and crime insurance policies. At the recommendation of finance director Audra Brooks, the committee members (and later that night the full board), approved upping the cyber attack insurance from $500,000 in coverage to $1 million in coverage, which is projected to increase the premium by about $11,000 a year. Brooks did not have a firm quote from the insurance provider at the meeting. She had asked for the increased coverage in the event the district is hacked during payroll. With the district’s payroll at $1 million, if an attack were to occur the district’s current policy only covers half that amount. As part of the approval, the board called on the insurance providers to present on the risks of cyber attacks against the district.

• Discussed the annual short term borrowing which is done for cash flow purposes as needed between the district’s tax settlement and aid payments. The district cannot formally get short term borrowing before being authorized to do so at the annual meeting, which will be held next Monday. Brooks said projections are that they will need to tap into this routine line of credit by the end of October. She noted that 50% of the district’s revenue for the year doesn’t come in until June. The current rates are 6.3%, down from 6.75% last year. However with indications of a drop in interest rates by the Federal Reserve in September, Brooks said that when given the authorization she would wait and watch the rates before committing to a line of credit.