Construction Update for Mabel-Canton School

Much of the December 16 Mabel-Canton School Board meeting was tied to the upcoming building project at the school. Superintendent Gary Kuphal explained a request to approve a bid from Wells Concrete of $630,325 for precast walls.

These walls will be used in the CTE addition and are like the walls used recently at the elementary. Wells Concrete is the only company in the area that makes that kind of walls. It was important to accept the bid soon since the process requires some lead time. The bid was for the amount expected.

The board was also asked to approve a bond expenditure approval process. In doing so, the board gave Superintendent Kuphal the authority to approve change orders of $40,000 or less. Any orders above $40,000 would need approval of the board. During the last building project, similar authority was given for $30,000 or less. The recent increase in construction expenses led to the request for the larger $40,000 limit.

With Kuphal’s retirement, a committee consisting of board members and administration had been formed to recommend a process to replace him. The committee met on December 2 and discussed how to proceed with replacing Kuphal. They considered advertising within, only going outside the district and advertising both within and outside of the district. They did not make a decision as a committee and plan to meet again in January to refine the process.

One question that arose was, “What’s going to happen with the building project?” Kuphal has dealt with more of the project than anyone else in the district.

There was concern whether a new superintendent should be expected to take on the building project in addition to the regular duties. The committee discussed having Kuphal stay on as a consultant or coordinator on the project. This would be on a limited basis and amount to possibly one day a week or so for about six months. Expected completion of the project is in December 2026.

Kuphal noted that they were “still fine on the timeline” of finding a new superintendent. At this point there are already seven superintendent openings in the state.

Superintendent Kuphal informed the board that he meets every other week with the architecture and construction firms. As of December 15, the project went out for bids; there will be ads in the paper for the bids for the next two weeks and information was sent out to a list of vendors as well.

A pre-bid walk through of the building will take place this next week. At that time, any interested bidders will be able to check out the building and the proposed project and ask any questions.

Bids will be opened online on January 13 at 1 p.m. The board will be able to reject or accept any of the bids.

One Act Play

A discussion was held regarding the one act play. Only grades 7-12 can compete in one act at the MSHSL (Minnesota State High School League) competitions.  Only three students in grades 7-12 have expressed interest in doing the one act. Four or five sixth graders are interested.

It was suggested that sixth graders could be allowed to go out for one act this year and the group could put on performances, but would not be able to compete officially at MSHSL level. The hope was that this would be for only a year or two.

Chair Chris MIller declared, “Recruit and rebuild!” as the board agreed to the plan.

Truth-in-Taxation Meeting

The Truth-in-Taxation meeting took place beginning at 6:01 p.m. State law requires the school to hold such a meeting to give taxpayers information and a chance to ask questions about their tax as well as to hear about the current budget.

No one from the public attended the meeting: this was not unexpected. The building referendum had passed earlier in the year and the public expected their taxes to increase as a result.

Budgets for the assorted school funds have remained quite steady. After presenting the mandated information, the board closed the Truth in Taxation meeting and resumed the regular board meeting to approve the proposed tax levies. Maintenance (General Fund including the referendum), $781,518; Community Service, $26,749; and Debt Service, $1,128,202 were approved by resolution. The total final tax levy was for $1,936,469. These amounts were not changed from the preliminary levy.