Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lincoln Board Approves Loan For Light Upgrade
LINCOLN — Lincoln School Board approved a $225,000 short-term loan with Arvest Bank last week to finance lighting upgrades on campus and some improvements to the lighting system in the middle school’s auditorium.
Mary Ann Spears, superintendent of Lincoln Consolidated School District, said Arvest offered the lowest interest rate, 2.49 percent, on a five-year payout. The district’s debt payment will be about $4,000 per month.
“That is doable,” Spears told board members. “We have more than that in savings each month.”
All board members , except Dax Moreton, voted in favor of the loan with Arvest. Moreton abstained as an Arvest Bank employee.
The district is upgrading its main campus to LED lights. Buildings involved in the project include the middle and elementary schools, administration building and auxiliary gyms.
This project will cost the district about $195,000, which includes incentives provided by Southwestern Electric Power Co., and another $35,000 was added to the loan to improve theatrical lights in the auditorium.
After the meeting, Spears said the cost to upgrade to LED lights is estimated to pay for itself in about four to five years. The new lights should save the district $50,000 annually in electrical costs, Spears said.
Board members continued their discussions on a major project to improve drainage on the Lincoln High School campus. Greg Ferus, senior project manager with Milestone Construction Co., in Springdale, said he will make final changes to the plans and then advertise the project for bids by the end of January.
Ferus said he would bring the firm’s recommendations on the bids to the Feb. 27 meeting.
Milestone will advertise the project as four separate packages in priority order. This way, Ferus said, board’s board members can decide if they want to complete the improvements for all areas or decide to wait on some because of costs.
The firm will recommend the “most economical and best qualified” bids, Ferus told board members while they looked over his latest design plans.
The drainage improvement project includes regrading the existing drainage ditches, adding concrete culverts, adding curb and gutter with curb cuts to the north parking lot beside the football field and installing a downspout drainage system on the courtyard area behind the high school.
Following execut ive session, the school board voted to extend Spear’s contract as superintendent for another year. Her three-year contract will run through June 2020. Spears did not attend the executive session.
Afterward, Moreton said board members discussed the contributions Spears has made as school superintendent and how she has brought excitement to the school district. She also has assembled a good group of administrators, he said.
“She is going to be with us for a long time, I hope,” Moreton said.
One area of focus for the future will be to continue improving communication to the public, Moreton said.
“We’re interested in parents knowing what’s going on,” he added.
School principals reported “celebrations” for their respective schools.
High School Principal Courtney Jones said the school was renewed as a charter conversion school for another five years.
Middle School Principal Michele Price said the school surprised all students with gift bags for Christmas that included a Feed the Wolf t- shirt, bracelet and card.
Jill Jackson, elementary principal, said more than 200 people attended the school’s literacy festival in the fall. The event included a campfire, hay rides and reading books.