The Kenai Peninsula Borough will pay an Anchorage firm $383,436 to study the refurbishment and potential consolidation of some Soldotna-area schools. The move is the latest effort to advance work on a $65.5 million school maintenance bond approved by Kenai Peninsula voters more than two years ago.
Crystal Nikolas and her children sit in the back row of the Betty J. Glick Assembly chambers on Monday evening. Her kids go to Soldotna Elementary School, and she’s here to express frustration over stalled work on plans to rebuild the school.
“I just want what we the taxpayers of Soldotna voted on – a safe school for my kids,” she said. “It's not cool walking outside … you have to avoid a whole area because the roof causes a huge icicle that drops to the ground. The kids aren't allowed over there. There's pieces of the building falling apart.”
Voters overwhelmingly supported a 2022 bond initiative to fund 13 projects across 10 schools. After the bond passed, though, project costs shot up due to inflation. To date, the borough’s finished two of those projects – a new track at Seward High School and a concession stand at Kenai Central High School.
The bond’s biggest-ticket items target Soldotna-area schools. For $40 million, the borough planned to rebuild Soldotna Elementary and remodel Soldotna Prep schools. But those costs spiked, too. Now, the borough says it’s between $12 million and $15 million short.
On Monday and Tuesday, respectively, school board and borough assembly members unanimously greenlit a nearly $400,000 contract with Anchorage-based MCG Explore Design. The firm will create a detailed overview of how the proposed facilities can accommodate students at or under budget.
Dana Cannava is in charge of special projects and constituent relations for the borough. During Monday’s meeting, she read a statement on behalf of Borough Mayor Peter Micciche, who was out of state and unable to attend the meeting.
“The project related to Soldotna schools, including Soldotna Elementary, will not happen until the project falls within the $40 million budget,” she read. “The people of the Kenai Peninsula Borough passed a $65 million bond, not one for $80 million. A magical $12-15 million does not exist.”
The borough says it’s going back to the drawing board in search of new ideas.
Assembly members approved the contract with no discussion. But the school board and members of the public debated it at length. Concerns ranged from the contract’s scope of work, to its cost, to whether the borough was duplicating efforts.
The study will be the third of its kind since 2018. Last year, the borough spent more than $120,000 on a study of the Soldotna school projects. The borough has refused to release that most recent study, including to firms interested in bidding on the new request.
Board member Jason Tauriainen lamented the contract cost Monday. The borough will pay for the contract partially with bond money and partially with money from the borough’s general fund. General fund dollars will be subject to approval by the borough assembly at a future date.
“I was a little bummed about the cost, but when you think about what does have to take place with looking at all the spaces and thinking about what could happen in all the spaces, these are important, or it's – something needs to be done right,” he said.
Documents published by the borough say the contract will be paid for with a grant from the state’s commerce department. But on Monday, borough staff told board members that the grant doesn’t exist. In an email to KDLL, Borough Purchasing and Contracting Director John Hedges said the document language is “boiler plate” and is meant to accommodate future grant awards.
The borough’s description of work identifies two schools not included in the ballot proposition language from 2022: Skyview Middle School and Redoubt Elementary. The firm is asked to explore relocation of Soldotna Elementary sixth graders to Skyview, and adds Redoubt to the list of programs proposed for relocation to the Prep School and Redoubt’s current facility.
Multiple people on Monday expressed concerns about a “megacampus” for Soldotna schools. Board member Kelley Cizek confirmed that Soldotna Prep can accommodate 400 students as currently configured. That’s a lot less than the combined student populations of the programs identified by the borough.
“Are we spinning our wheels to hire a firm to reconfigure a building that probably will not be able to house close to 800 students?” she asked.
But others say nothing’s been decided yet. School Board President Zen Kelly emphasized that board members will get the final say on whatever plan comes out of the contract.
“Right now, if you want to pigeonhole it into this megacampus that's going to happen, that's not – there is no plan yet,” he said. “There is no definitive plan. This is the process of developing a plan that could possibly do something like combining schools and housing students.”
Kelly said if the borough and district cannot figure out how to pay for the projects with the bond money, they’ll give those bond proceeds back and start over. That could include a new bond proposition with more realistic price estimates.
Now that the borough has the OK to issue a contract, it can direct MCG Explore Design to start work. The firm has 120 days from when it gets that direction to finish the final schematic designs and cost estimate.
