FILLMORE TWP. — After a pair of failed votes in recent years, Hamilton Community Schools is considering going back on the ballot in 2023.
More:Hamilton bond fails, other school votes pass
Superintendent Brad Lusk presented a potential 2.17 mill, $42 million bond plan to the district’s school board Monday, Dec. 12.
Although no official action was taken Monday, board president Craig VanBeek said the board is supportive of continued work on the proposal and will decide on a ballot measure in January.
If approved, the bond would appear on the May 9, 2023, ballot.
The bond would levy 2.17 mills, raising the district’s debt millage to 4.35. The current 2.18 debt millage is the lowest in either Allegan or Ottawa counties. Before dropping off in 2022, HCS’ millage rate was 4.35. It was 4.50 from 2014-2020.
The focus of the bond would be keeping students “safe, dry and warm,” Lusk said. Each school in the district would have roofing repairs done, security film would be added to windows in each building and several would get mechanical upgrades to boilers, chillers and fire alarms.
“It’s a tough thing to come into a district, you start going around, it looks great,” Lusk, in his first year with HCS, said. “Then you get (into) the nitty gritty and you realize there are some really nuts and bolts core pieces that are bad. I hate to sound negative, but these are things we need to get done.”
The biggest item in the bond is a holdover from previous proposals — construction of a new classroom wing at Hamilton Elementary and demolition of a portion of the school built in the 1950s.
Due to the age of the original portion of the building, the district has deemed it safer and more cost effective to build a new wing, rather than renovate the existing space.
The bond also includes playground equipment at each of the four elementary buildings to replace aging and rusting equipment.
“Our playgrounds have seen better days, better decades,” Lusk said, noting the need to make equipment safer and accessible to all students.
Another item in the bond is replacement of the pool dehumidification unit at the middle school. The unit is the original one installed when the pool opened, and replacing it involves removing a section of the roof or a wall due to its size and location.
“It’s on borrowed time,” Jason Thomas, board vice president, said of the dehumidification unit. “We’ve been limping it along for a couple of years.”
Hamilton High would see a renovation of the media center and a remodel and expansion of the physical education classroom to provide more space to students and athletes.
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Hamilton last passed a bond in 2016. Since then, two attempts — in August 2020 and November 2021 — have failed.
Lusk will be using his regular “Scoop with the Supt.” events to discuss the potential bond with community members. Events are scheduled for 9-10 a.m. Thursdays Dec. 15, Jan. 6 and Jan. 20 at The Hawk’s Nest Restaurant in Hamilton.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.
