People in Fort Dodge will not only vote for municipal positions and school board members on Nov. 4, but also on the renewals of two bond issues — one for the Fort Dodge Community School District and one for Iowa Central Community College.

The school district’s bond totals about $42 million. If approved, that money would be used to substantially remake the aging high school building at 819 N. 25th St.

Voters will ponder an extension of the current borrowing authority for upgrades to the high school, which will result in no increase to the school’s debt levy portion of the property tax rate.

Fort Dodge Community School District Superintendent Josh Porter said the current building from 1958 has distinct needs, covering classrooms, sports and fine arts areas, given that many portions are far from modern.

-Submitted image
Voters will take to the polls Nov. 4 to consider a general obligation bond of up to $42.04 million for a number of projects at Fort Dodge Senior High. This image shows the potential for the high school pool.

“The main thing is replacing our 70-year-old HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and our boilers,” Porter said.

“We still have classrooms that are very similar to how they looked in the late 1950s,” he added.

The superintendent and Brandon Hansel, the district’s executive director of financial services, said getting new HVAC, boilers and lighting will make the high school much more efficient.

School officials have a 20-year plan to work from, and “for the last three to four years, at the Facilities Committee level we have talked about what’s next for the high school,” Porter said.

After those discussions, the Fort Dodge school board in May decided to put forth the $42 million measure to voters for action. Porter said that timing was defensible, because it has given people six months to digest the proposal.

ISG, an architecture and engineering firm from Des Moines, helped pinpoint the highest needs to pursue. School officials over this year have routinely pointed to how the package touches academics, fine arts and sports.

School officials said that building a completely new high school was pondered. The estimated price tag for that was $120 million, but the debt limit to which the district is authorized to borrow is $108 million.

In a Fort Dodge school board meeting earlier this year, Porter said, “We are good stewards of finances. The district has been financially responsible at this time and in the past, and we look to continue that with this bond.”

Porter said the reaction of students to the project is positive, with some saying it would be “awesome.”

“All the kids like it, want it to be done,” he said. “Hopefully they are advocating to their parents to vote yes.”

In Iowa, bond issue measures must get 60 percent approval to be passed.

Absentee ballots can now be requested. Early voting is also available at the Webster County Courthouse.

There is one more chance for people to learn about the project in a public forum, which will begin at 6 p.m. on Oct. 23 in the Little Theatre at the high school.