Board hears plans for middle-school and elementary kitchen upgrades, cautioned about state funding limits
Summary
District staff outlined plans to renovate the undersized Dodge Middle School kitchen (estimated ~$1.1M) and replace North Trail Elementary’s dishwasher and ventilation (estimated ~$240,000), and warned that Minnesota Department of Education rules may limit what can be charged to food-service reserves.
District staff presented proposed kitchen renovations at Dodge Middle School and North Trail Elementary, saying Dodge’s service area is cramped and contains much original 1993 equipment, and North Trail’s dishwasher unit and ventilation are beyond their functional life.
The district described a design option to repurpose an adjacent staff-lounge space at Dodge to expand serving flow and estimated the budget for that work at a little over $1,100,000. For North Trail, staff estimated roughly $240,000 to replace the dishwasher and add an appropriate exhaust hood to vent steam and improve the working environment.
Staff said the intent is to fund these projects from food-service fund reserves. During the COVID period the district carried a roughly six-month food-service reserve; the state is returning to pre-pandemic norms of a three-month reserve, which creates a need to spend down the balance in a way that still complies with Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) rules.
Board members asked how much of the projects could be charged to food-service funds. District staff said equipment purchases that are clearly food-service items are typically allowable, but architectural or electrical work to support equipment carries risk under MDE guidance and might be disallowed. The district said it plans to return to the board with a final design and a cost breakdown that separates items likely allowable under food-service funds from those that may require alternate funding (general fund or capital/LTFM).
The board did not vote on the projects at the meeting; staff said they expect to present final designs and, if approved by the board, to seek bids with a best-case objective of completing work in 2026.
