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Board approves contracts and bond resolutions to expand Charlestown High School
Summary
The Greater Clark County Schools board approved architectural and financing steps March 10 to add classrooms and support facilities at Charlestown High School, voting to engage Lancer Associates, authorize lease amendments and direct a building corporation to issue bonds to finance the roughly $28 million construction estimate.
The Greater Clark County Schools Board of Trustees on March 10 approved contracts and financing steps to expand Charlestown High School, endorsing an architect engagement and three bond-related resolutions that will enable construction.
The board voted to engage Lancer Associates as the architect for the Charlestown High School additions after Terry Lancer presented renderings and described the plan and estimated construction-only cost of about $28 million. District staff and presenters said the project will add classroom space, an enlarged cafeteria, a wrestling practice area and parking changes to increase enrollment capacity to nearly 1,500 students over the next five to 10 years. "We are coming to you with this $28 million project," Terry Lancer said, describing the firm’s role and the contract basis on construction scope.
District staff outlined the physical scope as a two-story classroom addition that converts two underused rooms into classrooms (for a total of 18 new classrooms), adds office space, two sets of restrooms, a wrestling practice area and about a 45,000-square-foot footprint for the addition. Staff also described a roughly 3,100-square-foot cafeteria expansion and plans to add parking in green space near the gym to separate bus and car traffic.
Financing will proceed through a building corporation: staff explained the required public hearing and an amendment to lease that allows the building corporation to own facilities and lease them to the district, matching lease rentals to bond debt service. The board approved three resolutions at once: authorization to execute the lease amendment, direction to the building corporation to issue the bonds, and an additional appropriation to allow spending of bond proceeds. No roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript; the resolutions were adopted by voice vote.
Board and staff discussions noted a staged approach to issuing bonds to avoid borrowing ahead of need and thereby reduce interest costs. Following the approvals, staff said the district will move forward with final contract details and bond issuance steps.
The board’s adoption of the architect engagement and the bond resolutions authorizes the district to proceed to design and issuance phases; the building corporation and subsequent sale of bonds will determine the final construction timeline and cash flow.
