MONROE — In the immortal words of The Doors, “The time to hesitate is through.”

The School District of Monroe held its final informational public meeting and question and answer session in regards to the potential new high school property (called B&S) on July 10. District officials, representatives from CG Schmidt and PRA Architects, and school board members went through the pros and cons of each site, available budget, contingencies and timelines.

District voters will now decide the fate for the new building — either at the 70-acre B&S site along 31st Ave and County KK on the far east side of the city, or the current 45-acre property on the south edge of town.

“Taxes are not going to refunded; the referendum is not going to be canceled. We’re going to get a new high school. Monday’s meeting is only about either the B&S property or the current site,” said Jim Curran, school board member and 2001 MHS grad. 

A special meeting of the electors will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, July 17 at the Monroe High School. Only eligible district voters can turn in a ballot. The doors will open for registration at 4:30 p.m. 

The starting time was decided so that workers coming home from other cities, like Madison, could have a chance to attend.

Volunteers are coordinating child watch locations on-site in the building in order to allow parents to vote who might otherwise feel stuck at home. Other volunteers plan to pick up and drop off limited mobility and senior voters. Both efforts are to increase the total voter base and not to alienate any demographics, though second shift voters or others with prior plans may not be able to partake. 

Because it is a meeting of the electors and not an election, all voters have to be registered and present at the time a call to vote comes during parliamentary procedures.

How we got here

At the informational meeting, the district recapped the 5-year journey to this point. It began in 2017 by holding community forums and developing a strategic plan to move the district forward for long-term use. That included a facilities study in 2018 that determined work that needed to be done at each school around the city. Parkside and Northside elementary schools were to receive HVAC upgrades, roof repairs and other lower cost facility renovations. 

At first, Abraham Lincoln Elementary (the high school’s neighbor) faced the chopping block entirely. A District Facilities Committee was formed in Feb. 2018, and over the next few months came up with 17 different options the board could take for the future. The next year, an Elementary Consolidation Committee was formed, and the options were eventually whittled down to the five most plausible.

That include an option of demolishing Lincoln school in favor of renovating/rebuilding the high school, which would then host grades 7-12, with Northside and Parkside taking on grades K-3, and the current middle school moving to a 4-6 Intermediate School format. 

A public survey in January 2020 asked the community its thoughts on the various options, which also included keeping Lincoln open and remodeling or building a new HS site. None of the options signaled strong enough support to pass a referendum and were subsequently dismissed by the board.

The District Facilities Committee re-engaged to meet in 2021, and another survey went out to the public in late 2021: the 7-12 model HS with closing Abe, and building a new 9-12 on a new site. In February 2022, the board discussed the findings, which showed enough support to pass a referendum. Less than seven months later, the voters turned to the polls and did just that.

Buyers remorse and litigation

Almost two months prior to the $88 million referendum passing in November 2022, the district came to terms with B&S for a 77-acre site at the same location. Voters ultimately passed the referendum by about 9%.

However, confusion and frustration on the increase in tax bills came at about the same time as the first meeting of the electors in early December 2022. The meeting of the electors is required by state law in order for a school district to purchase new property. A crowd of about 150 showed up, and a vote on the property narrowly failed.

The district went back to the drawing board, eventually coming to terms with another land owner, the Donny family, on County DR north of the city. 

Frustrations around the community — both online and in the public square, spilled over throughout the winter, and eventually a collection of voters brought litigation against the district and Board of Education members, which occurred simultaneously with the drive for the Donny land. The lawsuit claimed that BOE members and the district intentionally withheld tax information prior to the election. The plaintiffs wanted the $88 million referendum thrown out entirely. 

The Donny property went to a special meeting of electors in March, during litigation, and attendance swelled to more than 1,500 voters, with the land ultimately turned down overwhelmingly. The district then put a pause on all referendum planning until the court decided on the lawsuit.

In May 2023, Judge Thomas Vale sided with the district, and the district re-engaged with land owners about finding a suitable new site for the new high school, just as was directed in the referendum question.

The board then debated how to move forward. They discussed reaching out to voters through a third community survey, asking which property the voters each preferred. In order to do so, the district needed to come to terms with multiple properties, or else risk the asking prices being raised.

When the board convened in June to finalize the wording and options of the survey, they were presented with two intriguing options. For one, the Donny property owners lowered their asking price. The property had been the most expensive per acre cost by more than double, though site work was the lowest of the available choices. 

District Superintendent Rodney Figueroa then informed the board of the B&S offer: A straight land swap, with the old MHS property as-is. In this option, the district would purchase 70-acres from the B&S owners, build the school and, when complete, the district would sell its 45-acre parcel of the high school campus to B&S for the same price. Outside of the overall zero balance in dollars in land acquisition (while also gaining 25 acres in the process), the district would no longer be on the hook for demolition of the old school building, a savings itself of about $1.9 million. 

The swing gave the district about an extra $3.5 million to work on the project. Interest from invested bonds increased the referendum budget to $94.3 million, and the B&S site was then estimated to be almost $1 million under budget.

That night, the board unanimously decided to skip the survey, end negotiations with the Donny family, and move forward with B&S. They scheduled invite-only community informational meetings to discuss the benefits of the B&S site over the current campus, and then held the July 10 public informational meeting, with about 200 total people in attendance and several hundred more tuning in online. The meeting and question and answer portions are still available to watch online at www.monroeschools.com (https://tinyurl.com/23w3cerp) or on YouTube at https://tinyurl.com/mryn7vae.

B&S Information

The 70-acre land is located along the city’s far east side near Northside Elementary, with a portion of the property running along 31st Avenue and extending as far east as nearly to Wis. 11. Further B&S property continues south to County KK. The B&S owners would also donate $100,000 to the district to build a 66-foot-wide drive through its adjacent properties to give the school a main entrance on County KK.

Initial costs for the almost mile-long drive is built into the sitework cost, as well as placing a single retention pond and a lift station to connect to the city sewer system.

Froseth and fellow board member Terri Montgomery were elected this past spring, both running on campaigns of keeping an open mind on where to place the new school.

To open the Q&A portion, an audience member asked both of them why they decided now to support the B&S location instead of building on the new school.

“I stated in the newspaper why I changed my mind,” Montgomery told the crowd. “The land swap was part of it. But I will say the biggest thing was when we talked with bond counsel and found out that we couldn’t keep any of the existing high school. That made a huge difference in my decision on the property.”

Froseth also was interested on if there was any way to retain any of the current structure. But when bond counsel informed the board it could not connect any part of the previous structure, and none of the allocated referendum dollars could go toward fixing or upgrading parts of the old building, he too changed his tune.

“... [d]uring this process I think Ive done as much as I can as an individual to make sure we did our due diligence as publicly as possible,” Froseth said. “It’s brought me to a clear decision. The proposal by B&S ... that really made that site unequivocally the best site for our students our community and our and school district.”

The B&S location would fit the 240,000-square-foot high school building, as well as a main stadium for football, soccer and track and field, two baseball fields, two softball fields, two practice fields for football and soccer, and eight tennis courts. Currently, MHS has just four tennis courts on campus and has split time over the years utilizing Recreation Park and Northeast Park. The softball teams play at Twining Park, and the soccer teams have spent the majority of their 20-year programs at Honey Creek before recently moving practices and competitions to the high school. The JV baseball team uses a temporary field on Abraham Lincoln’s campus, while the varsity field on the current MHS site is the only baseball field in the city with a full-size infield and deep enough fence for competitive high school use.

Phase 1 of the project, which includes land and traffic studies, would be able to begin right away, as well as full-scale architectural blueprints. Ground would break on the site in Spring 2024, and be completed in early winter of the 2025-26 school year. The district would then be able to move in right away once completed, bringing the entire process to a close after 20 months.

With the land of the current site potentially being traded to B&S, that would add 45 acres to the local tax roll. That land could eventually be turned into residential housing, bringing in even higher tax revenue, as well as allowing for potential population growth for the city, which has been hovering around 10,000 people since about 1970.

Not having to tear down the current structure could also save further headaches than just the $1.9 million projected costs.

“(We) don’t have to do anything on this existing site. That means any asbestos in this building, we don’t have to do any DNR reports,” Froseth said. “We don’t have to deal with any of it. Any contamination anywhere, that would be part of due diligence on any buyers part we don’t have to do.”

With the savings from essentially no costs for a land purchase and not needing to tear down the old building, the cost of the B&S projects to be about $226,000 less than the original cheapest cost the district was presented with — rebuilding on the current site. 

Thanks to the extra funds from its long-term bonding interest, the total B&S cost comes to about $93.3 million, which is just under $1 million from the projected budget. Projected inflationary costs are included in that figure.

“The estimates are very high level and based on preliminary conceptual drawings and readily available contours,” Froseth wrote in a Facebook post to his constituents July 13. “No civil engineering has been done, and it would be irresponsible for the district to do any at this point given the cost and uncertainty of the electors approval of the site. In talking with CG, they have used analogous (comparing to other similar projects) estimating techniques adjusted for inflation. They have verified these estimates against 3/2023 RS Means data (industry standard for high level construction estimating), and in some cases (such as the road), confirmed rough pricing with a trusted subcontractor partner. The due diligence that will be completed should this site be approved will allow the district and CG to confirm assumptions and narrow in those numbers.”

There are land contingencies in place for the B&S property, and if sitework like soil testing or other Phase 1 investigations discover issues, the board has the legal right to re-engage in negotiations to get a better deal, or even nullify the contract and simply begin construction on current district-owned land.

“This is all pretty standard in commercial construction and real estate development,” Froseth said.

Further benefits with the B&S property include gaining 25 more acres of land that the district can utilize for athletic fields and potential growth in the future. With CG Schmidt and PRA, it was determined Monroe needed a minimum of 60 acres in order to get the space for the school, potential growth, parking, athletic fields, and retention ponds. 

About 70-75% of the B&S land is within an elevation change of 20 feet or less, though the other 25% is much steeper. The school would go on the highest point, with the land removed under it used for fill to tier the adjacent parking lots and sports fields. A lower elevation on the south edge could be used for one large retention pond. 

Not on the property is the former city landfill, which sits south of the property and is still property of the City of Monroe.

Another main sitework issue is the construction of the road that will connect with County KK. It could potentially be nearly a mile long, and would connect to County KK near the Wis. 11 intersection. Should the land be approved by electors, a traffic study would be done, in which the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) could give guidance to lowering speeds along County KK, or perhaps changing the outlook of the Wis. 11/KK intersection, perhaps adding traffic lights, a roundabout or other reconfiguring in hopes of limiting potential accidents caused by added traffic around the school.

In order to even get to the point of land and traffic studies, let alone meeting the other contingencies, voters will have to approve the B&S site.

What if the public says “no?”

Should the public turn down the B&S offer at the July 17 meeting of the electors, there would be no further land negotiations, per district officials. Phase 1 of the project would begin on the current property this fall, with construction starting in the spring. The latest renderings would require the school to be built on the site of the current varsity baseball field, as well as the practice football field to the west, and T.R. Holyoke Field. 

During construction, the district said there would be no outdoor sports at its facilities due to the new school being built where those facilities reside now. Football, baseball and track would have to find new locations to practice and compete, most likely in other towns. The only other football field in town is at the YMCA, which itself is looking to break ground soon on a major building project that will likely affect the location of the football field.

There is no other track in town, nor a baseball field of high school-required dimensions. The district would have to provide scheduling and transportation for its athletes to other towns for practice and competitions. That would also mean no gate revenue for the school for their home outdoor competitions, and further limited concession dollars raised by various other high school clubs like Junior Optimist, Costa Rica Exchange, Yearbook or others.

The new school on the current site would also be projected to be completed in early winter 2025-26, but the next phase of the plan would be to tear down the old structure, including the PAC and gymnasiums. Once the building is torn down and given the environmental “all clear,” estimated to be in the spring, construction crews would then begin building the sports complexes, finishing in about 6-9 months, or about the winter of 2026-27.

During construction, builders would also need to stage their equipment and machinery on school property, potentially adding to the noise pollution around school and disruption of education for high schoolers and Lincoln students alike.

Curran said the reason he is in favor is for two reasons.

“We get 70 acres instead of 45 … it’s more bang for your buck. Secondly, there’s a human side to this — there is going to be significant disruption that will impact students and student athletes for three years if we build on the current site. Now, can students handle this? Yeah, they are resilient; they’re adaptive. They could handle it,” Curran said. “But why would we choose that? Why would we choose to have the students go through this while the business side tells us the B&S property is the better decision. To me, this decision is about the future of Monroe. This will impact generations for the next 60 years.”

Questions unanswered

Following the B&S informational meeting and Q&A session, those in the audience were encouraged to speak with board members, Figueroa and the PRA and CG Schmidt representatives. 

One resident asked about maintaining an extra 25 acres of land, when for the past decade, the current property was only “maintained with Band-Aids”. Who would mow the baseball fields and green space around the property? Would it be contracted out and paid double? What if the new building starts seeing problems in 5, 10 or 20 years and needs major repairs? Who is responsible for snow removal in the winter?

Board members admitted those decisions haven’t been made yet, but that’s because the site hasn’t been officially acquired yet. In upcoming budget discussions for the schools, it would be a top priority, given how quickly the current MHS building fell out of order, with foundational crumbling and water infiltration issues popping up less than a decade after the new science wing was built.

Other questioners wondered if the city had planned for the expansion of 30th Street, which currently runs from the S. Wis. 69 to the former National Guard Armory on 11th Avenue. In 2015, city officials received a wish-list of sorts of street projects to work on, which included expanding 30th Street to the backside of the current MHS campus and connecting with 17th Avenue, and potentially even further.

However, that project, like the reconfiguration of 31st Avenue on the east side, has not yet been planned for, and that any project of that sort is likely at least 2-3 years away, according to multiple local aldermen.

“There have been discussions of extending 30th street for possible development, however nothing has been committed or currently in the works to my knowledge,” said alderman Chris Schindler.

Further questions included the need to scuttle outdoor sports all at once, and if the district would adjust their plans of the new building structure if they had to build at the current site. Contractors had previously said that at the current site, simultaneous building of the athletic fields and school cannot happen all at once, like it could at B&S, as there simply isn’t the maneuverable room to complete the task. But could only some of the sports complexes get torn down, while others get built elsewhere in order to mitigate those diversions? 

No complete answer was given, other than the visual renderings are not the exact copy of what the facility looks like. The district is aiming to build a 2-story building, but a 3-story building could take up even less space. In the end, it fell back on the limited space of a spread out 45-acre plot of land, with the best usable space for a new building smack dab in the middle of the football and baseball fields.

Special meeting of the electors

Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, July 17 for the special meeting of the electors. The meeting is projected to start at 6:30, though anyone in line to register by that time will be allowed to register and then vote. 

Those who register early are not allowed to leave and then return. However, once the vote is called for and a voter turns in their ballot, they can leave. The PAC will be available for those needing padded seating or cooler temperatures. The gymnasium is not air conditioned and can get warm, while the PAC has temperature controls installed. The happenings in the gym will be livestreamed to the PAC, as well as on the district’s YouTube page for those who want to watch but cannot attend.

The meeting follows parliamentary procedure, with a chairperson needing to be elected by the voters, and first and second nominations needed to move along each task on the agenda. A chairman with experience as a parliamentary chairperson can move the process along quickly, while an inexperienced chairperson may need the help of counsel or other officials. In order for the meeting to be official, these procedures must be followed throughout the meeting.

Also on site for the meeting will be multiple childcare watch services. Volunteers are planning to take younger children potentially winding down for the night to a classroom or two up in the high school, while older children will be watched in the auxiliary gymnasium. The meeting is expected to last anywhere from 1-4 hours. The childcare volunteers wanted to make sure as many parents of young children in the district are able to vote at the meeting. After the previous meeting, several parents lamented that one person in the household went to vote, while the other stayed behind with the children for dinner or bedtime routines. By scheduling the vote at 6:30 p.m. instead of 7 p.m., the district took the step itself to help these family out, if only by a little.

Others in the community have volunteered to pick up and drop off voters unable to make the meeting themselves otherwise, be it from lack of nearby parking, no vehicle or other mobility issues. Among those volunteering is Monroe Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and Green County Board Supervisor Melissa Even.