Editors Note: This article was originally published in the Aug. 2, 2023 issue of the Chronicle Progress. Some information may be outdated.
District will produce pamphlet ahead of November vote to go to every household
Millard School District’s board of education voted July 13 to begin negotiations with a Centerville-based construction company to manage a planned $47.5 million rebuild of Millard High School as well as a new addition to Fillmore Elementary.
The district is hoping voters will agree to finance the project through a tax-neutral general obligation bond issue. However, it’s clear the district is also prepared to finance the project through costlier revenue bonds if voters reject the district at the ballot box, potentially costing taxpayers about $5 million more in the long term.
Board of education members passed a bond resolution last month as well, setting the stage for the bond election to take place on Nov. 21.
In the meantime, the district is already working with two groups of professionals—Zions Public Finance, handling the district’s financing plan, the other Naylor Wentworth Lund Architects, working on design and construction of the new facilities.
Ahead of the July 13 meeting, a committee of nine stakeholders, including a couple of school board members, MHS administrators and others heard presentations from four construction companies. Three of the companies offered services beyond just project management, but one in particular struck the committee as a better fit for the project, Superintendent David Styler told board members.
School Board President David Lund, who sat on the committee, agreed, naming Hogan & Associates Construction as the firm with which the district will begin negotiations. Part of the district’s proposal is a requirement that any company chosen to manage the project be open to negotiating construction costs.
Lund said the company’s history, availability, and the construction superintendent’s time on the job were all factors favorable to the district’s committee.
Styler said he was also impressed by an element of Hogan’s presentation that included a service whereby weekly, 360-degree snapshots are taken of every bit of the building as it is being built and delivered to the district.
“So as you’re going along… you see exactly where electrical is, you see exactly where plumbing is, you see where everything is. It’s a time lapse thing. So 10, 20 years from now, you can go back to the time lapse photos…you can see where everything is and how it’s lined up,” he told the board.
Another factor in the district committee’s choice was that Hogan offers general contractor services, such as cement work, framing and the like, to step in should a subcontractor not be available or needs assistance with part of the project.
Hogan’s website touts the company’s long history with public construction projects, noting its 49 education clients and 350 education building projects completed to date.
Philip Wentworth, Naylor Wentworth Lund’s vice president and the district’s design consultant, will work closely with whatever construction management firm the district ends up officially hiring, Styler said. Fine-tuning the design work is likely to last until December, with engineering work starting almost as soon as a construction manager is in place.
The superintendent said a construction management firm will typically cost between 2.5 percent and 4.5 percent of the total project costs. He said if negotiations with Hogan didn’t succeed, the district would choose another of the four that presented to the district committee and move forward.
Meanwhile, after passing the bond resolution, the Utah Lt. Governor’s Office is notified of the election—it manages elections within the state. A pamphlet explaining the district’s efforts and pitching a “vote for” argument hoping to garner voter support will be produced and distributed to every home in the county. The pamphlet could contain a “vote no” argument as well, contributed by a concerned taxpayer or some other entity, though none have been identified by the district so far.
The pamphlet must be delivered to voters no later than 15 days before the election and no earlier than 45 days, said Japheth McGee, vice president at Zions Public Finance.
“There will be time in the interim before the election for anybody who’s opposed to the bond to put together a ‘no’ argument. If no one puts one forward, great. I kind of doubt that will happen, but you never know,” he said.
The district will have to host both a public meeting and public hearing ahead of the election. That will likely take place on the same day in October. Originally, there was some concern that those would take place earlier, but then the election was moved to further in November because of the special election to replace U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, who earlier announced he was stepping down in September.
“Because they moved the dates back, it actually opened up kind of a window of time where you can hold both of those meetings on the same day,” McGee said. “In the interim, we’ll be drafting arguments for the bond.”
More than a decade ago, local voters rejected a general obligation bond effort to pay for new campuses at both Delta High and Millard High. The district ended up replacing Delta High alone as a result. However, the costs associated then with replacing MHS were much lower than today, meaning taxpayers missed an opportunity to likely save millions of dollars.
But complicating the district’s effort today is the giant property tax increases, year over year over year, homeowners and business owners within the county have lately witnessed thanks to depreciation of industrial assets, such as Intermountain Power, combined with soaring housing prices.
Taxpayers, it is feared, have no appetite for new debt regardless of the district’s pitch—even though officials are quick to point out the district’s certified tax rate will fall this year, to 0.005982 from 0.006616.
A budget hearing setting the final tax rate also took place on July 13.
