By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Perhaps the third time will be the charm for Colonel Crawford because the second time on the ballot wasn’t.
The 0.5-mil permanent improvement levy was defeated again by voters in during Tuesday’s May elections. In a close vote the unofficial difference was 5 percent with 731 votes against the levy and 656 votes for it.
Colonel Crawford Superintendent Todd Martin explained what the next step will be for the district.
“Until we talk to the board; the board gets together and we have a conversation, I’m not really sure where we go from here,” Martin said. “I guess the first thing I will have to do is get to call the state and see where we are there with the inside millage if it is still good. We will just have to show that we have made cuts, and that we can sustain the project that is coming on.”
If passed the levy would have guaranteed state funds that would have allowed for the demolition of the Whetstone, Sulphur Springs, and North Robinson school buildings while also sealing off the current high school building for use of the gymnasium, pool, as well as a few classrooms that won’t quite fit in the new high school would be added to the current Colonel Crawford preK-8 school building.
With the defeat at the polls Tuesday all is not lost on the timetable for construction.
“I guess if we can show with this good faith effort on the ballot I think that goes a long ways, and if we can show that we do have a plan to maintain I am hoping we can stay on track. I am optimistic,” Martin said.
The current timetable for the project, which was explained at the April Colonel Crawford Board of Education meeting, would have the removal of the hazardous materials in the Whetstone and Sulphur Springs buildings in September with demolition of the buildings occurring by the end of the year.
Bidding for the high school wing would go up in December, with partial demolition and sealing up of the building happening in the summer of 2015.
The new high school wing is expected to open by fall of 2015.