Individuals interested in hearing an update on the latest happening with the Mineral Point Stadium Project gathered for an informational meeting Monday night with Superintendent Luke Francois presenting.
Francois’ slideshow presentation can be found here in its entirety, which includes more detailed graphs, facts and figures than what are highlighted in the article below:
In addition, video of the meeting can be obtained here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f27bQIyZfb8
Francois began the meeting by addressing a question he has heard frequently: “Will Mineral Point be playing games on the new field next fall?”
He said it’s possible, but bleachers and a press box are still needed to host varsity games. Junior varsity games could certainly be played on the new field as there is a functional scoreboard and it is lined.
During the original design, there were four sections of projects. The first was the football field with 1,000 seat bleachers and a press box. Second was the addition of a track surrounding the field and additional visitor bleachers. Third was a parking lot expansion and fourth was a baseball field development behind the school.
Brought before the school board originally was just phase one (the football field with bleachers and press box) at an approximate preliminary cost of $1,776,567.
Francois stated there were concerns the cost was too high and, upon bringing in Doug Duren as Project Manager in a design and build process, the costs have gone down.
To date, approximately $415,000 have been put into the field through privately raised funds (not school district general funds). This amount includes the guaranteed note for $250,000 which is backed by private guaranteers so the district would not be on the hook to pick up any defaulted amounts. So far, the first two years of note payments have been made through the alumni raffle.
Francois stated the funds needed to complete the first phase equal about $487,000. Bleachers and press box comprise $319,000 with $30,000 already spent on plans and foundations for these. $17,000 is needed for fencing and $150,000 for lights.
The magic number of bleacher seats required by the WIAA to host a playoff game is a minimum of 1,000. Lights would not necessarily be required to host a playoff game (if the game would be played in the afternoon), but the bleachers and press box would be.
Bleachers are $245,390 and the press box would be $73,900, but Francois cautioned that these amounts would go up $9-18,000 if a purchase order is not done by December 31 of this year.
So then, what funds are currently available?
Francois stated there are approximately $50,000 with $15,000 from the note, $25,000 in fundraising, and $7,100 from the golf outing.
He also mentioned some possible money sources the board could approve, if it desired, including $40,000 in reserve from the energy efficiency project (actually closer to $18,000 as replacement school water heaters were just ordered), and $180,000 in surplus for this school year. Francois cautioned, however, noting the district is scheduled to face significant funding challenges the year after next.
Some board members have suggested a referendum for the stadium as a next step, putting it out to the taxpayers whether or not they would like to support this project. If the board would decide to go that route, a February 16 primary election would need to be approved at the December board meeting and an April 5 question would need to be approved in January.
Those in attendance recognized there is a large sum of money that still needs to be raised and talked about various ways this could be accomplished including tapping deeper into the alumni base, business sponsorship, raising gate admission prices and other ideas. The Gridiron Club is open to suggestions.
Quite a bit of discussion also occurred around proper recognition of donors, both as the fundraising process continues, and at the conclusion.
There is a plethora of information on the project that is updated regularly athttp://mpstadium.com/