Riverview High School Locker Room Upgrade, Storage Project Gets the Go-Ahead

Renovations on the locker room most likely will start this summer.

But some school board members were a little hesitant about approving the project—which would mean in the existing physical education locker room area, as well as building an addition for storage.

The topic has been a big subject at both the workshop and voting school board meetings this month.

On Monday, the board voted 5-2 to award contracts to Moret Construction for $259,000; Hranec Construction for $33,000; 3 Rivers Electrical for $12,340; and East End Plumbing for $5,900. The is a little bit more than $310,000.

School board members John Hackworth and Heidi Dolan dissented. David Kadylak was absent.

The team locker room would be located in between the girls and boys physical education locker rooms—space from the existing locker rooms would need to be used—and would be accessible from both. The 12-year-old lockers would be reused.

School board member Arelene Loeffler said though the cost seemed expensive, the current facility is set up poorly and there's no room for storage.

Dolan, whose effort to table the matter for another month failed, said she had concerns about spending a large amount of money in this economy.

"It's hard to think about taking a big chunk out of our reserve fund not knowing what the future has to hold," she said. "It's always difficult to have a big expenditure."

She said there are several capital projects that must be completed, and the locker room project wasn't as much of a priority.

School board member John Hackworth agreed.

"I would like to keep the fund balance intact for priority issues," he said. "The road ahead financially is going to be a problem."

Hackworth suggested that the board look at the project more closely and try to come up with alternatives that would be of more value to the district.

Officials originally had planned to build a new locker room apart from the school as part of the renovation project, but the scope of the work was estimated to cost $450,000. Architects then created the current site plan for the renovation project.

Hackworth read an email sent by Kadylak, in which Kadylak said he's not convinced the new plans are the right solution. Kadylak also urged the board to table the matter for another month in his email.

Superintendent Chuck Erdeljac said at the board workshop meeting last week that district officials are doing their best to "live within our means."

"The physical education teachers seemed to think this plan would work and give us what we needed down there," he said. "This is one of those decisions that the board bites the bullet on because it's the best design we've been able to come up with that has a consensus.

"Nobody can accuse us of creating the athletic Taj Mahal. This is very modest."

School board member Lisa Ashbaugh said plans for the project have been going on for several years, and officials have gone to the drawing board twice.

"We've worked for so long to get to this point," she said. "Everyone is saying this plan is functional and that this can work.

"If we wait on this, it'll cost more. I don't think it'd be right to go to the drawing board again."

From the get-go, the board nixed a $54,000 portion of the project for a separate room for sporting officials, saying it's too costly for the district.