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Watertown School District board approves personnel moves, contracts, construction changes and vendor bids
Summary
The Watertown School District 14‑4 board approved personnel actions, equipment purchases and construction change orders at its April meeting, including a $1.7 million Johnson Controls project total and multiple vendor and lease agreements.
The Watertown School District 14‑4 board approved a slate of routine and project‑related actions during its April meeting, including personnel retirements and resignations, equipment purchases and leases, construction change orders and vendor contract awards.
Key formal actions approved (motions, movers/seconds when recorded, and outcomes):
- Agenda approval (with amendment that no action would follow executive session because negotiations were incomplete). Motion recorded and approved (mover: Iverson; second: Carrie; outcome: approved).
- Minutes of March meetings approved. (Motion by Laura; second by Rossman. Outcome: approved.)
- Personnel actions: retirements for Kim Diaz and Amber Case approved (motion by Rossman; second by Iverson). Multiple resignations and three non‑renewals were also approved; motions listed movers and seconds in the record and votes were approved.
- Contract recommendations and addendums (part‑time, temporary and adjunct contracts; mentor teacher apprenticeship; family support specialist hires and administrative moves) were approved (motion and second recorded; outcome: approved).
- Surgical technology construction: six change order modifications to address a main sewer line and piping were approved. The board packet reported the six changes total $15,967, bringing the project contingency to $255,884 and the surgical tech remodel cost to $981,380. (Motion: not specified; outcome: approved.)
- Strategic Advisory Council appointment: Corey Ravenberg, chief of staff for Summit Contracting, was appointed to the Strategic Advisory Council for a term through March 2028 (motion by Iverson; second by Laura; outcome: approved).
- Equipment and facilities actions: • Motorized overhead crane system for the building trades program approved at a bid price of $225,000 (funded with state grant dollars). (Motion by Iverson; second by Rossman; outcome: approved.) • Resolution to surplus an aligner with sensors (auto program equipment beyond useful life) approved. (Motion by Iverson; second by Loewer; outcome: approved.) • Six low‑cost equipment lease agreements (heavy equipment operator and ag equipment) with Transsource and Titan Machinery were approved to support instruction (motion by Iverson; second by Rossman; outcome: approved).
- Johnson Controls HVAC/installation contract: the board approved an installation contract of $1,400,000. Previously approved equipment contract was $278,000; together the approvals bring the project total to $1,700,000 — noted as $428,000 below the previously estimated not‑to‑exceed price of $2,100,000. (Motion by Iverson; second by Laura; outcome: approved.)
- Athletic facility change order: Change Order No. 5 added $89,000 to a field/athletic project for conduit rerouting, concessions casework and minor sprinkler/door adjustments; the construction contingency was reduced to $433,000 and the adjusted contract was reported as $10,900,000. (Motion by Iverson; second by Rossman; outcome: approved.)
- Vendor bid awards: Prairie Farms (dairy products) and Bimbo Bakeries (bakery products) were approved as vendors for the 2025–26 school year (motions recorded; outcomes: approved).
- SDHSAA membership resolution for 2025–26 was approved (motion recorded; outcome: approved).
- Several board policy second readings (BCA, BCB, BDD, BE Scribe, GBGR employee criminal background check edits) were approved as presented.
- Calendar revision: district end of school date was moved up by one day to Thursday, May 22 (motion by Laura; second by Rossman; outcome: approved). The change reflects use of one of the two built‑in snow days.
- Open enrollments: eight kindergarten open‑enrollment requests for next school year were approved (motion by Rossman; outcome: approved).
- The board concluded business and moved into executive session on a recorded motion (motion by Iverson; second by Laura).
Where the record did not name a mover or provide a full vote roll call, the minutes show unanimous “Aye” responses; the board noted four members present with one calling in. No contested roll‑call tallies were recorded in the meeting text provided.
