The West Delaware School Board was updated on the new auditorium and gymnasium project at their Aug. 15 meeting.

“The building outside is going great,” Ron Swartz told the board. Swartz, the director of buildings, grounds and transportation, said some of the footings still aren’t done but you can see where the building will end.

But Swartz is concerned with the drilling for the geothermal units because he wants to make sure the Manchester City Council approves them.

“They have been pushed back three to four weeks,” Swartz said. “They don’t necessarily have to be done and we won’t use them until next fall.”

The committee for the auditorium has narrowed down seating to a chair from Seating Concepts, a company that specializes in seating for movie theaters, performing art centers, stadiums and arenas.
The chairs, that will most likely appear within the auditorium, have no mechanisms, have high backs and, according to Mike Ryan, a board member, have comfortable arm rests.

“Roger (Worm, architect for the project) penciled in $135 per chair and we think these will be $125,” Ryan said.

The curtain color is ‘plum,’ a darkish red color that the committee thinks could go with any color.

The conference center, where the board meeting was held, contained eight different chair styles.
“You’d be surprised how many options there are for chairs,” said Swartz.

Parents and students will notice a new sign and more lights at Lambert Elementary School this year as well.

“I’ve saved money over the years from fundraisers,” said Principal Carol Tjaden. “Parents have complained that it was to dark when they come for conferences.”

The lightning strike from the July 19 storm is still causing problems at the high school. According to Swartz, there is still no communication to the bus barn and the intercom throughout the high school is down.

Jon Nordaas, the high school principal, informed the board that they will have to e-mail additional announcements each period and they will also rely on teachers to dismiss the students from each class.

Swartz said that fixing the existing system will cost around $4,000 and a new one will cost about $7,300. But that only covers 64 rooms. Once they make the decision for a new system it could take up to two months to have it installed.

Swartz also approached the board about purchasing another bus for this year because the 2007 models will include an ultra low sulfur fuel and a converter.

“The new busses next year could increase to $6,000 or $8,000 per bus because of the converter,” Swartz said.

The 2006 bus would allow the school an additional 18 months before they would have to buy a bus with the converter.

“We would have to change over the whole fleet and it could cause problems with the older buses,” he said.

Swartz is hoping that after the 18 months, other school districts will have gone through the switch and worked through potential problems.

All board members agreed it was a good way to save money and approved the purchase.

The board also approved:

• the Administrator Mentoring and Induction Program agreement with SAI,
• the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan,
• the Business Procedures Manual and the 2006-07 Middle School staff and substitute teacher handbooks,
• the increase of adult school lunches to $2.65,
• and the transportation request from a family with the Maquoketa Valley School District who wants to send their child to St. Mary’s. The board approved to charge the family $360 a year to pick the child up within the two-mile range of the district.

The board, however, tabled the Community Child Care 28A Agreement because of some confusion about costs. They may be holding a special session in case the agreement deadline comes before their next meeting in September.

By reusing the millings from the old site, it minimized what the City had to buy.

Under the original plan the budget for the project was $215,283 with Manchester paying $127,440.
Schmidt said those numbers figured purchasing all the fill, base materials, millings and sealer.

Friday’s open house was one of the requirements for the DNR grant. Randy Thuman and Lee Wilson were on hand to demonstrate the equipment T&W Grinding uses in making the compost.

They grind the brush and turn over the compost piles at least once a month.

There is still material composting in the former brush dump. The remainder will be finished and screened out to use by late October. The old site, which is five to six acres, will be seeded down.
The new site is also six acres.

“We always had a good site,” Schmidt explained. “It’s unfortunate that we had to move, but I feel we made its access cleaner and neater and it’s a better site.”

Only Manchester city residents are able to bring material to the brush dump, but as it’s available, anyone can remove wood compost, wood chips and fire wood.

Manchester city residents are those who receive a water bill each month.

To learn more about T & W Grinding, go to www.tandwgrinding.com.