WEB ONLY: Questions and answers from interview with Ogden School Board President Don Belnap
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p>OGDEN -- Following is a transcript of an e-mail interview between the Standard-Examiner and Don Belnap, president of the Ogden school board, about the district's $40 million shortfall for its construction and renovation plans.
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Q: Do you believe you and the board were overly optimistic when it came to the original estimates of the bond projects?
A: NO. The school district officials at that time presented to the board their best assessments as to what the constructions costs were going to be. No one, could have imagined that 18 months ago that gasoline prices would be double, that steel costs would be more than triple, and because of the effects of hurricane Katrina, would lead to concrete costs to rise to records levels and have not gone down. Wood and plastic prices are up drastically and that the price of copper today is at an all time high. The Utah economy, including the construction of new housing, is booming. Supply and demand is part of our scenario and the entire state is feeling the effects of a 2 - 3 billion dollar project in downtown SLC. There are many other construction projects in northern Utah which are also having an adverse effect on the costs for our new schools.
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Q: Did you and the board purposefully pitch the bond project as extensive in order to sell voters on the bond?
A: NO. Let me remind the newspaper that your editorial board came out the Sunday before the February of 2004 bond election and said not to vote for the bond but to reduce the amount of the 156 million dollar bond to a more manageable amount. This school board did just that. We worked with district officials to adjust our budget so that nearly half of the 95.3 million dollar bond repayment plan was coming from the existing district and not all on the tax payers of Ogden. The editorial board also stated that the district should make changes to grade configuration before another bond election. We did that as well. Our grade configuration change will be fully implemented in the fall of 2008. Certain aspects of that plan will begin this fall with a few of our elementary schools going to the K-6 format. To do that our three remaining middle schools need to have construction work completed immediately to make them ready to become Jr. Highs. However, for reasons already mentioned, all three of those projects will cost more to perform the work that is needed.
As mentioned earlier, the plans for our recent bond election were and still are extensive, but the 95.3 million dollar bond was only the beginning and has always been referred to as phase #1. Again, the plans for phase #1. are less complex than the 156 million dollar plan of 2004. However, in retrospect, the citizens of Ogden would have paid substantially less for many more schools being rebuilt and remodeled, if that bond election would have been successful. Many of our schools would have been completed before the astronomical price increases of the present day environment. Just so we don't forget, the average age of our school buildings were 50 years in 2004, they are now in 2007, averaging 53 years old and those school buildings are not getting any younger.
Q: Why didn't you and the board (and district officials) factor in inflation, as well as other issues such as labor cost increases, when you/they formulated their bond financing?
A: Inflation was factored in. The national inflation rate has been approximately 2 % - 3% for many years. However, the construction inflation rate has hit unbelievable levels after the district officials made their inflation calculations. No one could have imagined that the present 1.5% per month construction inflation rate would be the rate. Regardless of all that has been said, we still have only 95.3 million dollars to spend and the result is that the school board and district officials will build and remodel as many schools as we can as promptly as we can for that amount.
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Q: How do you think voters will feel about a future bond election if you delay the work on Ogden High School but proceed with work on Ben Lomond High School?
A: I believe that as every voter in Ogden City who drives a car knows as they go to the pump, and goes shopping, knows that prices have gone up. Any citizen who has built a new house or has remodeled their existing home, knows that prices have gone up. It is still our job and commitment to spend the bond money as prudentially as we possibility can. The Ben Lomond project has already experienced major reduction adjustments to the overall project. The board knew before that we could not finish all that needs to be done at BLHS. The board decided to do as much as we can now and in the future, whenever that is, the board would move forward to finish the rest of Ben Lomond during phase 2 of the bonding process. The present and future students living in north end of Ogden City deserve to have a modern state of the art educational facility which will help them prepare for their future.
Ogden High school is operating under the same criteria. Originally, there was an idea of having a separate, stand alone, cafeteria and commons area not attached to the main campus. The architects, working with district officials, found that by attaching the cafeteria & commons to the existing building, that this alone could save over 2 million dollars. In addition, the availability of QZAB (low interest qualified bonds for the remodeling of existing schools) could be used for this portion of the OHS plan because it would fall under the guidelines of a remodeling project. Ogden High has had a desperate need to upgrade their 70+ year old gymnasium. The plans for a stand alone athletic field house behind the auditorium and next to the swimming pool would allow the current and future students to benefit from a more modern physical education program is still the goal. Following the construction of a new gymnasium, the plan then is to remodel the old gym into modern into two floors with the first floor designated for state of the art science labs with the second floor being devoted to the performing arts. That plan has not been changed. We will build as much as we can as fast as we can for the present and future students of Ogden High.
There is potential additional savings, in the neighborhood of $300,000 - $400,000 (in today's dollars) if the cafeteria/commons, new gymnasium, and the new court yard with new parking are all build at the same time.
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Q: How sure are you that architect/construction officials are giving you the correct numbers?
A: The architects that have worked with the school district officials in the past and construction manager that we presently have working for the school board are professionals. We value their advice. However, there is no crystal ball informing us what the future is going to be. The bottom line is that the citizens of Ogden authorized the school board and the school district to spend 95.3 on the first phase of the plan that one day will address every school building in the Ogden City School district. That goal has not changed. We have been entrusted to do this, and we are working towards that goal. By the fall of 2007 there will be new Odyssey Elementary on 3350 Washington and Central Middle school will be remodeled to become a new elementary school to house all of the students of the present Lewis school, which has students at two separate locations. Ground has been broken and construction has started for new elementary school in the Fort Bingham area. That school will be ready for the 2008-09 school year. Our Jr. Highs will be ready as well at that time. However, some of our other projects will have to postponed to a later time.
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