Renovation of an educational facility in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Design plans call for the renovation of a primary / secondary education facility.

https://images.apollo.ai/articles/pdfs/2974495_44136_09-30-2021.pdf Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil Council Bluffs, Iona Date: Frequency: Circulation: Article Size: Ad Value: Page/Section: Thursday, September 30, 2021 N Daily 7,165 66.90 column inches $1404.90 A 0001 Board approves sale of Madison Campus property TIM JOHNSON tie hnsongnon pa reilon I in e.corn The Council Bluffs Commu-nity School District Board of Education on Tuesday approved the sale of the Madison Campus to CP Holdings Inc. of Omaha for $3 million. Board members discussed pub-lic input, the cost of renovating and maintaining the facility, paying the utility bills, other possibilities for the Kanesville Alternative Learning Center and benefits to the community if they sold the property. "I'm still struggling with this decision," member Jill Shudak said as the discussion began. "There were some passionate pleas last meeting, and I've had a lot of questions from constitu-ents about this issue." Board member Troy Arthur talked about the costs, as well as concerns about the old Washing-ton School Building where the Kanesville Alternative Learning Center is currently located. Ar-thur asked Chief Financial Officer Dean Wilson how much utilities cost at the Madison Campus. He said it's about $100,000 a year. Arthur also mentioned the cost to upgrade the building and make changes needed to rcpurpose it, as well as maintain the building and pavement. "We've seen great expense just keeping up these parking lots at these schools," he said, adding that the district has spent more than $1 million restoring the Abra-ham Lincoln High School parking lot over the past couple years. "I do think the conditions at Kanesville, while the upstairs is much better than the downstairs, are not good;' Arthur said. "We talked about moving Kanesville ... I understand kids wanting to (renovate) the school, and that they should have a nice school. If we sell (the Madison Campus), maybe some of that $3 million could be used to renovate it." Putting the property back on the tax rolls and creating jobs would be good for the commu-nity, he said. According to Heartland Prop-erties Partner John Jerkovich, the buyer will hire about 68 employ-ees for the Council Bluffs loca-tion, eventually expanding to up to 100 employees. The jobs will offer compensation of $60,000 or more, with the average salary between $70,000 and $75,000. The facility filled a need for the school district, Superintendent Vickie Murillo said. The seller, Dearborn Proper-ties, was asking $3.8 million for the property, and the school dis-trict got it for $1.9 million, she said. The district also spent $4.4 million to renovate the building and remodel it for use as a school. The purchase was made in 2018, with costs paid for with funds from a $37 million bond issue approved by voters on Sept. 11, 2018. Kim students attended classes at the Madison Campus during the 2019 -20 school year, and Wilson students had school there during the 2020 -21 school year. While promoting the bond, district officials said the district would retain ownership of the building. They now said facts on the ground led to the change of direction. "We bought it at a fire sale price;' Murillo said. "It was the only building in the district that could hold 1,100 students' If the district had kept mid-dle- schoolers in their buildings while they were being remodeled and moved around the facilities to allow the work to take place, completing both the Kirn and Wilson Middle School projects would have taken an estimated six years, Murillo said. As it was, they were both done in two years, and students were able to participate in music and physical education during the projects. Also, the stu-dents did not have to listen to the noise while trying to concentrate on learning. Please see MADISON, Page A2 Page: Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil Council Bluffs, lone Date: Frequency: Circulation: Article Size: Ad Value: Page/Section: Thursday, September 30, 2021 Daily 7,165 66.90 column inches $1404.90 A 0001 JOE SHEARER, NONPAREIL FILE PHOTO The Council Bluffs Community School District voted Tuesday, Sept. 28, to sell the Madison Campus property for $3 million to CP Holdings Inc. of Omaha. From Al Murillo said the school district did not know about the Menards plans at the time they purchased the Madison Campus building. "We had no idea that someone was going to buy the mall and tear it down and build a Menards," she said. Of the Kanesville building, Mu-rillo said, "We can renovate that building. It is in the center of town where (it needs to be). We had students that walked into the Madison building this morning, and I don't know that they could have walked all the way to Madison." Said board President Chris LaFerla of the Madison Campus, "I think it worked for the purpose we bought it for. It served its purpose' Larerla added that the district does not have to pay utility bills on the space its offices occupy in the Omni Centre Business Park. And the district only had temporary permission from the city to use the building as a school, he said. "I think the best idea is to sell it. If we do sell that building, Kanes-ville has to be a priority," adding that he thinks the district can give Kanesville students "the building they deserve." No one who attended the meet-ing spoke on the sale during pub-lic participation. Additionally, no one from the buyer's side was at the meeting. The board voted unanimously to sell the Madison Campus. According to the agenda, pro- ceeds will be deposited in the dis-trict's physical plant and equip-ment levy fund, where it could be used for other facilities expenses. The district could not pay off the general obligation bonds is-sued for the middle school and Madison Campus renovations until 2027 but could put the pro-ceeds in a fund and draw interest, Wilson said at the Sept. 14 meet-ing. With the sale, the district has not indicated whether any of the money would be used to reduce the levy. 1 /2 Page: 2 / 2 ___________ Security surveillance system upgrades for Kirn Middle School. As of May 19, 2020, this project is in the conceptual phase and the school district is working on funding for the project. An architect has been selected for the project. Information regarding contractor selection has not been disclosed. A firm timeline for construction has not been established. *Project information, including timeline and contacts, has been obtained through public sources. The content management team continues to pursue additional details; however, the contact(s) listed have yet to disclose or confirm any information. Inquiries should be directed to the contact(s) listed. As of May 25, 2022, no new information available