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Bullhead City | Mohave Valley
Board approves sewer work, new logo
By BILL McMILLEN – The Daily News
BULLHEAD CITY — The Bullhead City School District Governing Board did most of its heavy lifting during a 30-minute workshop, then approved a $115,000 contract with a local company for sewer work at Bullhead City Middle School.
Gonzo Plumbing was the lone respondent to submit a qualified offer from among a dozen contacted by the district for the project to replace “collapsing, corroded lines” at the west end of the main building at the school on Hancock Road.
District project manager Marc Scott answered a few questions about how the new sewer line will connect with existing lines on the campus; care will be taken to avoid disturbing as much of the school structure as possible while still facilitating repairs and replacement of lines beneath the school itself.
“We don’t want to cut through all those floors,” Superintendent Carolyn Stewart said. “That would be hugely expensive.”
The board, at the regular meeting on Monday, approved taking money from the district’s unrestricted capital fund for the project, which is anticipated to begin as soon as possible for completion before the beginning of the 2022-23 school year.
Stewart said pulling money from the capital fund was the most expeditious way to pay for the project.
She said it might qualify for Arizona School Facilities Board funding — next year. The SFB already has distributed funding for the current school year and won’t begin awarding grants for next year until later this summer — too late to help BCSD.
“If we want this done while schools are closed — which we do — we have the funds (in the capital account),” Stewart said during the workshop.
The board also discussed several other capital improvement projects, including entrance reconfiguration at Diamondback Elementary School and an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant wheelchair platform lift for Fox Creek Junior High.
Both of those projects will be funded by Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief money already earmarked for the district.
ESSER money cannot be used for improvements at the district transportation facility because no students are directly involved, so the board talked about another dip into the capital fund to pay for restroom renovation and construction.
The board voted 5-0 at the regular meeting to seek bids for separate components of the transportation building improvements — the restrooms, storage and training spaces — to learn the expected costs of each of those pieces.
In other business, the board:
• Adopted a new logo, merging the colors from the current logo into a design created specifically for a newer look and one that doesn’t contain the word “elementary” in it since that officially isn’t included in the state’s charter for the district.
“This really looks like us,” Board Member Melinda Sobraske said.
She was among the majority of board members who liked the overall design presented by Stewart at the April 14 meeting but thought it was too dark and didn’t truly represent the district.
So Stewart took the design provided by an artist known as CheftyChefty through the graphic design collective Fiverr and exchanged the earth-toned reds and oranges with the blues already used by the district.
“I thought this might work,” Stewart said.
Board members all agreed, voting unanimously to adopt it as the district’s official logo.
Work on a website redesign will include the new logo and the color scheme. Stewart said the developer was waiting for the logo and color decisions before proceeding with the redesign.
• Voted unanimously to purchase handheld metal detectors for school security purposes.
The devices won’t be used on a regular basis, Stewart said, but will be used on students when there is a reason to believe a student is in possession of “some material or matter detrimental to health, safety and welfare” of other students and staff.
She said the recommendation came from the administration at Fox Creek Junior High as a measure to combat a high number of vaping devices that are being smuggled onto school grounds, a violation not only of district policy but also Arizona law.
“Students are very creative about where they carry their vapes,” Stewart said.
The metal detectors also could be used as screening for weapons or other items that aren’t permitted on school campuses, Stewart said.
After the board approved the purchase, Stewart said the district handbooks will be updated to reflect that the use of the metal detectors may be used on students, when deemed appropriate, advising parents and students of the new tool being implemented for school security.
• Voted 4-1 to accept a revised four-year contract with the Arizona School Board Association for services at a cost of $4,800 a year.
The board tabled the matter at its May 12 meeting because Board President Kory Burgess said he was uncomfortable with a total-value clause on the contract, meaning if the district decided to withdraw from the agreement, it still had to pay for the full remaining value.
Burgess said he thought ASBA would accept a year-by-year contract; the organization did not, countering with an offer of a 50% contract buyout.
Burgess, still uncomfortable making that decision for a board likely to change personnel over the four-year life of the deal, voted against the contract. The other four members voted in favor of it.
“That just seems a little steep for me,” Burgess said of the buyout clause.
“I don’t think it’s a bad deal,” Board Member Anna Boyd said, noting that the district has had a long-standing contract with ASBA that Stewart said had been highly beneficial to the district, certainly worth the annual cost.
“We’re tying the future board’s hands,” Burgess said.
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