School Board requests offers of purchase for old schools
By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
Much of the discussion at Monday night’s meeting of the East Troy School Board once again focused on the fate of Chester Byrnes School and there were a lot of community members in attendance to voice their opinions on what should be done with it.
From anger that some board members were entertaining ideas about putting money into Byrnes so it could continue to house administration to a request from the high school cheer and dance coach to use the gym for her team if the school was renovated, residents had their say.
Many in the audience took exception to some of the board members desire to look at rehabbing Byrnes when the referendum they voted on in April for the new elementary school and high school renovations stated Byrnes would either be sold or, if a buyer couldn’t be found, demolished. The referendum question also stated School District administration would be moved to Doubek Elementary School when the new elementary school was completed.
“It’s a violation of public trust,” Jody Heimos said. Heimos was on the ballot for a School Board seat in the February primary, but didn’t advance to the general election.
Scott Seager, a Village of East Troy trustee, called board members Mike Zei, Martha Bresler and Dawn Buchholtz to task for even considering rehabbing Byrnes, citing the expense and cost to taxpayers and compared the building to the house in the movie “The Money Pit.” He told the board the community had voted and made it very clear what it wanted with the referendum and they were being irresponsible for not recognizing that vote.
Gina Dingman questioned how the district would pay for fixing up Byrnes when no referendum money could be used for it. She said taking the money out of the fund balance, which is where it would need to come from, wasn’t a good idea as the district needed that “emergency fund” as she called it.
District Business Manager Kathy Zwirgzdas later explained that the fund balance wasn’t really an “emergency fund” but money the district needed for annual operations. She pointed out the district still needed to borrow money every September to pay its bills until the January tax money came in. Zwirgzdas has been building up the fund balance as much as the budget allowed over the past seven years and its health was one of the reasons the district was able to borrow the referendum money at such a low interest rate.
“I just didn’t want anyone thinking we had $3 million sitting in an account somewhere waiting to be spent. That’s not how it works,” Zwirgzdas said Tuesday.
“If we were a really rich school district it would be great for us to keep it (Byrnes),” Mike Felske said. “That’s not the case. The state legislature has made it clear money is not coming down the pike. This is money you are taking away from the kids … the referendum was clear – sell it or take it down. Just knock off the BS. If you don’t there’s going to be a price to pay at election time.”
When the agenda item came up to discuss possible heating repairs for Byrnes, the board discussed at length the future of the school and the cost just to fix the heat, which preliminary estimates have put somewhere between $100,000 to $400,000.
School Board President Ted Zess said because the referendum stated administration would be moving to Doubek, they didn’t have a choice on that, administration had to go to Doubek.
However, that might not be the case. Referendum dollars cannot be used to renovate Byrnes for administration, only Doubek. Whether the board can keep administration at Byrnes if the money comes from another source is a question that wasn’t answered at the meeting, but will be looked into by district administration.
District Administrator Chris Hibner said regardless of the legality of it, it was his opinion the people who voted for the referendum were under the impression administration would be moving to Doubek.
Zess also brought up all the other problems at Byrnes that would have to be fixed, like the electrical wiring and issues with the sewer. He said his biggest concern with keeping Byrnes was financial, he also called it a “money pit.”
Zess asked if Bresler, Zei and Buchholtz were willing to spend fund balance money on Byrnes and board member Steve Lambrechts said he wasn’t.
“I don’t want to go into the fund balance,” Lambrechts said. “That’s why we got the bond rating for the referendum, saving taxpayers’ money.”
Lambrechts pointed out if they sold Byrnes the $225,000 set aside for demolition could go back into the referendum money and be used on the new school or other district renovations.
Zei said he and Bresler were looking at the options and discussing things with Building and Grounds Director Bob Ellis as far as the scope of the work to be done.
New player on the field
When Zess asked why the board was discussing using Byrnes, Bresler said it was their responsibility to look at all the options. She said there was a new player on the field that wasn’t there when they formed the referendum questions – the library.
The East Troy library has been looking at possibly building a new facility of buying one to move into. There have been talks between library and village officials and the School District about possibly buying Doubek Elementary and/or Byrnes for the new library.
Buchholtz said she never understood how they could sell half a building, which might be the case if the village wanted Doubek for the library and administration was housed in it.
There was more back and forth discussion and a couple outbursts from audience members as the board debated the pros and cons of rehabbing Brynes for the district.
Zess suggested the board “throw it out to the community” to see what, if any, interest was out there for the buildings.
After more discussion the board members voted to entertain ideas from investors and developers for the two school sites and continue to gather numbers on what it would cost to bring Byrnes back up to speed. The issue of heating Byrnes was tabled until the Dec 14 meeting.
Submit offers to purchase
The East Troy School Board will entertain offers to purchase Chester Byrnes and/or Doubek Elementary at the Dec. 14 board meeting. Anyone with an interest in purchasing either or both schools can submit an offer to the district office, 2043 Division St., by 3 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 11. The School Board members requested offers be accompanied with “proof of financial capability” to fund the intended use of the building(s).
For more information, call (262) 642-6710.
