Letter: School board says thanks for 'yes' vote

We thank the voters of Carson City for the demonstration of trust and confidence shown in the recent successful bond election. We pledge to make sure that we do what we said we would do during the development of the bond.

We know that our staff and our students really appreciate this vote of confidence from the voters of Carson City. We will do everything that we can to ensure that our staff is responsible and accountable for the dollars spent and that these dollars spent are on the projects that have been promised the voters.

Mike Mitchell, director of operations, will be convening a Bond Oversight Committee, which is comprised of local developers; the Chamber; PTA; the general citizenry; school staff and one board member. This Oversight Committee will meet two times per month to review actions taken regarding the bond.

Also, Mr. Mitchell will convene advisory groups at each school comprised mostly of staff members, which will advise him on the bond priorities for each site. These committees will begin to convene in December and will continue through the completion of the bond projects. Also in December, we will meet with the State of Nevada, Board of Finance to request a guarantee from the permanent school fund for this bond issue. This allows us to acquire a better bond rating thus saving us money in bond rating insurance.

We will also be meeting with Q & D Construction, the construction management firm, and Sheehan, VanWoert and Bigotti, Architects, to build a memorandum of understanding on the chain of command regarding the bond projects. We as a board will approve a bond resolution in December, which clearly outlines the phasing of the bonds and the projects to be done this summer.

By Feb. 1, we plan to sell the first phase of the bonds in the amount of $9 million and this will fund the summer projects that will be outlined during the month of January. Design work will occur during January, February and March, with the bidding process to happen in March and April. Construction will begin as soon as the students leave in June.

We have been in consultation with the reporters/editors from both newspapers, and they have pledged to help us with space for ongoing reports regarding bond progress so you will be able to obtain information in a continuous manner regarding completion of the projects. We will also give dates in all school newsletters on at least a monthly basis.

In summary, we again thank you for your support on behalf of the staff, students and parents of Carson City, and we pledge our commitment to a responsible cost-effective completion of all the bond projects included in the plans that have been shared with the voters.

CARSON CITY BOARD OF SCHOOL TRUSTEES

Jean Kvan, President

Bob Crowell, Clerk

Gary Ailes, Member

Doug Ponn, Member

Norm Scoggin, Vice President

Stacie Wilkie, Member

John McKenna, Member