Trustees approve facilities work at schools sites and 50 Church Street renovation loan
Trustees met twice in June for the Governing Board of the Plumas Unified School District (PUSD) and approved winning bids for facilities work projects at four school sites.
Voting 5-0 after discussions held June 20 and 27, the school board members approved contracts for the following work to be completed.
Chester Junior-Senior High School: $14,508 to Asbestos Science Technologies, Inc. for sampling before, during and after abatement.
Greenville Junior-Senior High School: $7,000 to Parkwood Hardwood Floors for repairs to the gym floor finish following accidental damage after installation; and $6,946 to Graeagle Lighting for additional energy-efficient blinds not already included in prior updates for school offices. The vendor, Chris Nicholson, is donating the cost of installing the blinds.
Pioneer Elementary School: $16,360 to Asbestos Science Technologies, Inc. for sampling before, during and after abatement; $86,025 to H.B. Restoration, Inc. for interior and exterior painting; $24,975 to Comer Communications for technology cabling; $124,800 to AFM Environmental for abatement of lead paint; and $35,980 to Lassen Transfer and Storage to move the Quincy Elementary School campus equipment, furniture, supplies and other items to Pioneer Elementary for the start of school in August.
Districtwide: $69,200 to NST Engineering for survey services at various PUSD locations to provide updated site information not available within existing district or county records.
50 Church Street renovations: Deliberating during the public hearing and also in closed session, the school board returned to its public hearing and voted to proceed with a $3.5 million tax-exempt lease financing proposal to complete restoration work at the historic Quincy School located downtown at 50 Church Street.
The 1905 building has been the subject of many months of community hearings and special input from the Friends of 50 Committee dedicated to preserving the historic structure.
Eighteen finance companies and investors submitted financing bids for the project.
The renovation work on the building has been taking place in phases and the school board’s approval of the new financial instrument with California Bank & Trust, a division of Z.B., N.A., will allow the restoration efforts to move forward to completion.
The final loan will come to $3,570,000 with $70,000 paying for the costs of the financing.
PUSD will make annual payments of $305,018 over 15 years for a total repayment of $4,578,478. The bid is unique, according to school district documents, in that it allows PUSD to prepay the financing with 30 days’ notice at any time, without penalty.
What? 3.5 million dollars? Really?? Would you please reprint the ballot issue that folks voted on to begin with, word by word? As I remember, the money was to be used for necessary and immediate repairs to all four of our school sites now in operation; there was no mention of the Church Street School restoration, nor was it even an issue at that time. I don’t think they can legally do this now, they could, however, float another loan from the taxpayer.