Wamego’s USD 320 Board of Education held a special meeting to make decisions on an acquired church property. At Monday’s meeting, the Board heard presentations from three design/build architects/contractors. The presenters were Bruce McMillan of Bruce McMillan Architects and Mike Hoover of RM Baril General Contractors of Manhattan; President Dan Foltz and Vice President Neil Fisher of KBS Constructors, Inc. and Steve Malin of Treanor Architects, both from Topeka; Principal Project Leader Randy Coonrod and Project Manager Brad Rice of Coonrod & Associates, Wichita and Principal in Charge Brent Bowman, Project Architect Dan Crouch and Communications Manager Nancy Burton of BBN Architects.
All three groups presented their work history as it relates to school renovation and construction. Each group had toured the three buildings being considered for renovation , but didn’t have the information from the Board needed to make any estimates. President Richard Weixelman asked for a decision, but the board chose to study each presenter’s information and make a decision at the next regular meeting.
When USD 320 purchased the St. Bernard’s Catholic Church property, the church building was not part of the purchase contract, and by contract the church was to be razed by July of 2015. The Board hired Consultant Dr. G. Kent Stewart to study the entire property and make a recommendation. At an earlier meeting, Stewart stated he doesn’t like to see buildings torn down, but felt the cost to renovate the 104 year old building to meet the District’s needs would be too costly and recommended the razing be allowed.
After earlier discussions, it was decided to have Superintendent Denise O’Dea draft a letter to the Archdiocese asking for a delay in the razing allowing the District time to determine if the building could be used for educational purposes. The letter was prepared and tweaked for discussion .
At Monday’s meeting, Board President Richard Weixelman opened the discussion by stating he didn’t think the letter should be sent, because he’s not in favor of renovating the church building for use by the District. He feels a responsibility to the taxpayers by building a building that would be less costly and more efficient than a renovation. After much back and forth, and a majority of the Board in favor of letting the building go, Board member Richie Chrest still favored sending the letter to the Diocese asking for an extension of the razing. After a motion to redo the letter, which passed by a vote of 4 to 3, the letter was re-written and Board member Rob Adams and Dave Karnowski will deliver the letter to the Archdiocese.
