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District projects proceed to design development phase

T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Marshalltown Community School District Superintendent Theron Schutte and Board Member Sara Faltys listen to proposed plans for air conditioning in the high school. The board met on Monday.

Approval was given to proceed into the design development phase of Marshalltown Community School District projects – specifically high school air conditioning, a tornado safe room and improvements to Anson Elementary.

At the regular Monday meeting, FEH architect Kevin Eipperle provided the Marshalltown Community School Board with preliminary designs of the three projects.

The Marshalltown High School air conditioning project has a price tag of $5.9 million.

“It was about $7 million. This budget now is right around $6 million. The reason for that is we found some deficiencies,” Eipperle said.

Less ceilings will have to come down, which means less they will not have to go back up and will reduce the amount of painting, he said. There also does not have to be an installation of fire sprinklers. Eipperle said fire sprinklers are no longer required in buildings after Board Member Jan McGinnis asked if it would have a negative impact on the cost of insurance.

Eipperle said since it is an existing building and there is a fire system already in place, the sprinklers are just not necessary.

“This is really good news, overall,” Eipperle said.

The improvements to Anson Elementary will cost $2.5 million. There are various features of the project, including building walls to create classrooms and replacing windows. Eipperle said the cost of the Anson project went up in cost from the original $2.2 million estimate.

“The primary reason for this is because we are adding some walls,” he said.

In the end, students at Anson Elementary will be provided with a nice learning environment, Eipperle said.

The board also recommended approval of the use of an almost $10 million tax revenue bond to pay for the high school air conditioning and Anson Elementary improvement projects.

The cost of the tornado safe room is $2.7 million and would be located outside of the fence on the west side of the football field. Superintendent Theron Schutte is applying for a FEMA grant which will pay 85 percent of the cost if it is approved.

Board member Mike Miller said the tornado safe room will only be constructed if the FEMA grant is approved. Schutte said in order to even submit the application, plans for the project need to be 60 percent complete. Eipperle said the plans are 35 percent complete.

The safe room is proposed to be 40 feet wide and 200 feet long. Eipperle said the design includes locker room spaces, a meeting room, concessions, public restrooms, a first aid room and more.

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.

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