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With the vote at last month’s Chisago Lakes School Board meeting that the district would be asking taxpayers for permission to sell  over $63 million in bond funds through a special election this spring, there have been questions on what that money would be used for and how the district landed on that number.

The district hired Nexus Solutions, a comprehensive facility planning company,  to do a thorough examination of every district building, space and systems that they own to drill down to the problems that face Chisago Lakes,  with many old and dated structures. Nexus produced a 400 page report on the shortcomings that totaled nearly $120 million in maintenance, upgrades and replacements. After combing through the report and working with staff, a Community Advisory Committee and the community at large, the school board and administration pared that list to the most important and pressing needs, arriving at a total of $63 million.

“The first piece is when you have two bonds that didn’t get through, we needed to do a reset and take a bit of time to go deeper and bring in a company to look at every square inch of our buildings because if we are going to do this, we need to get this right,” Superintendent Brian Dietz said. “The one message we got often was ‘If you’re asking for this stuff, tell us what you need, to be good to go. Don’t keep coming out. Get it done, and get it done right.’”

Dietz noted there was a lot of work because of the age of the buildings. “So, we looked at everything and we trimmed it down to critical needs,” he said. “Let's be thorough, and end up with a list that we can feel confident in and then, facility-wise we’ll be taken care of for the next 15-20 years. With buildings that are 50 years old to 90 years old, we are at a point where this is critical. There are pieces in our building that we have done the best job we could to milk every piece of energy and life from them.”

When explaining the needs around the district, Dietz was adamant that there are a number of bleak outlooks on basic, but very costly, maintenance and replacement of the ‘bones’ of the buildings.

“The two big things that we need are safety and deferred maintenance,” Dietz explained. “The middle school needs adjustments. When the buildings were built...they weren’t built for safety. The third floor doesn’t have permanent walls and doors – there are shower curtains between hallways and rooms, and it’s not acceptable anymore.”

The district has also been pushing for a reworked entrance and office area at the middle school for years. The project has been a part of the past three bond votes that have failed. 

As it stands, when a visitor is paged through the vestibule, they have instant access to the whole building. As a significant safeguard, a majority of schools, including others in the Chisago Lakes district, now require visitors to be cleared through a vestibule, then through the office, before being allowed to access the entirety of the building.

Besides the safety at the middle school, the building, which was constructed in 1935 has major maintenance and replacements that are needed.

The electrical system dates from the 1930s, and there are major parts of the HVAC system that were installed in the Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy presidential terms and are well past their end of life. 

Among the other issues to be addressed are non working pneumatic controls, replacing galvanized plumbing pipes, replacement of sagging ceilings, worn casework, old and inefficient lighting, worn roofing, rusting doors and handrails and aging exhaust fans.

There are also a number of projects at the high school – the part built in 1976 – including some major boiler and electrical work, a large dust collector from the 1970s that needs to be replaced,  bleachers in the Ward Gym, old and inefficient lighting throughout, leaking windows around the building and poor site drainage and flooding issues near the softball fields at the high school.

Taylors Falls Elementary (built in 1951) and the Primary School (built in 1965) also have some critical needs, including 35 year old rooftop air handling units, electrical systems, rusting exterior doors, worn out flooring, sagging ceilings and deteriorating siding among other projects.

Dietz said that just two weeks ago, some of the failures came to a head. On January 21, frigid temperatures and wind chill caused school to be cancelled. According to Directory of Buildings and Grounds Kyle Boerum, the HVAC system at the high school failed, which caused a pipe in the emergency fire suppression system to burst above the math wing. Being that the suppression system is designed to dispense enough water to put out a fire, by the time the staff was able to get the water shut off, over 5,000 gallons of water flooded into the wing in a span of five to seven minutes. “We had anyone that could come in to help – janitors, principals, admin staff – because we had so much water flushing through into the area,” Dietz added. Six classrooms, two hallways, ceilings, furniture, carpet and WiFi devices were all damaged. The final tally for the cost of the issue hasn’t been determined yet, but licensed pipefitters and HVAC techs were brought in to remedy the situation.  Approximately 40 man hours between custodial, admin and teachers were needed to aid in clean up.

This bond would not replace any current money that the district is receiving. There are currently three levies active at the district, including a voter approved 2017 levy that expires in 2038. Dietz explained the other two levies are not additional costs for the taxpayers. He said the state allows districts to borrow against proceeds of the future. “We have two of those in place, which expire in 2030 and 2033, but those are nothing that impacts taxpayers directly. We took the leverage the state allows us to do, to take care of bigger scale projects.”

The superintendent, who is in his third year at Chisago Lakes, is hyper aware of constituents who did not agree with the large 2017 bond that resulted in the construction of the new Lakeside Elementary School and the Wildcat Community Center. “I know there is some hesitation after the 2017 bond. We keep hearing that piece,” he said. “We acknowledge there were some things that people felt should have happened, but I can tell you with confidence we’ve done all the right things in this study and by doing this work right now, we won’t come out again for (borrowing authority) 15 to 20 years facility-wise. We have been as thorough and thoughtful about this as we could. Because we know that if we are given the blessing from our community to get this, we have to get this right. There is some history that is unfortunately dogging us right now so we need to change that and make sure we are the best versions of ourselves moving forward and voters will be confident that everything we said we were going to do, we did.”

The district does have a website set up (chisagolakes.referendumfacts.org) that lists all the needs, along with pictures, the plan, voting information, and importantly, tax impact on residents and business owners, as this bond would raise taxes. 

“I recognize we are one of the highest taxed counties in the state of Minnesota. We are one part, but we aren't the part driving up the cost a lot either. It would be insensitive to tell someone to just make this work. I think people have to make those decisions and we have to respect people and where they are at. Our goal is not to try and drive up costs for people. We are the only entity who has to ask for permission to get stuff done. Everyone else can levy against their taxes to get things done, but I would hope they see the value in what we're doing. 

“We are reinvesting in what we have. We can get more longevity and help by saying we have a great district and keeping our facilities up to snuff is going to be a big part of that. There is value in that because good school systems equal good home values, so there is value to be had in these investments.There’s nothing shiny coming out of this bond. We are really just looking at the bare bones of our schools. We know they are built well and if we can take care of things, we’re going to be good moving forward.”

If the bond fails, Dietz is worried about the work he feels the district has done to get to a better spot financially. “We are, for the first time in 14 years, close to the 7-10 percent fund balance [that is suggested by the state for districts]. We are getting to the place that we are doing the right work that our community expects of us, and all of that could be lost real quickly. Without a pass, a major issue could devastate us long term. He explained that if something major were to happen, yes, the problem would get fixed, but it would likely come from the General Fund. “It comes from dollars that are used for kids and staff to educate. That’s the last thing we want to do. We don’t want to penalize staff or kids in that process.”

The vote will take place on Tuesday, May 13, with polling locations at the Chisago Lake Township Hall, Lindstrom Community Center and Taylors Falls City Hall. Early in-person and absentee voting begins March 28 at the Chisago County Government Center. The Press will follow with a voting guide in April for the election.

Dietz wants constituents to know that the administrative team and the board have exhausted their options and are just at a spot where they need the help to maintain, and not be extravagant. “We’re literally just saying we want to reinvest in our buildings for an opportunity to keep what we have and move forward for the next 20 years and beyond,” he said. “We’re doing the right work and now when we come and ask for stuff, it’s not because it’s something shiny we want.”

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