Gatesville ISD trustees heard a multi-part presentation from consultants and staff about community engagement and early planning for a proposed bond package with a planning ceiling of about $26,000,000.

Consultants from Huckabee described outreach efforts that began in October and included community tours of the junior high and field house, prioritization exercises ("toss, keep, create") and direct feedback from staff and residents. "We want to build a shared understanding of what the needs and the wants are," a Huckabee representative said, explaining the goal of making the case to voters and maintaining transparency through a bond website and roadshows.

The presentation listed project focus areas: accommodating sixth grade at the junior high, site and safety improvements, curriculum and classroom design changes, library and learning spaces, technology upgrades, fine-arts space reconfiguration, and athletic facilities. Consultants repeatedly emphasized showing images and documentation to make the need tangible to voters; one presenter recalled a rain-catching rubber tub photo that helped prior voters support a project.

Tracy Brent told the board the district has a construction manager-at-risk procurement underway and expected roughly five contractor proposals. Brent said design work will be well underway before a bond election and that soil testing and site investigations are being scheduled now to speed construction if the bond is approved.

As part of the bond-prep actions on the agenda, the board approved a geotechnical services proposal from Langerman Engineering for site testing (a lump sum cited at $26,000 to be funded from the bond planning budget). The testing will evaluate soil and site constraints for a roughly 35,000-square-foot junior-high foundation area and the new field house.

Board members discussed tax messaging and budget ceilings with consultants, who noted that legal ballot language must describe the borrowing and that assessed property values (set by the appraisal district) affect taxpayers differently. Consultants said the district will publish explanatory tools to show how the plan would or would not affect individual taxpayers’ bills.

District staff said more detailed project-specific information and design concepts will return to the board in January ahead of a potential February call for a bond election. No bond election was called at this meeting.