The $20 million bond for the ORHS was sold at 5.59% on 2 Dec. But, on 3 Dec.the SAU learned about the lawsuit by Jere R. Beckman and others. Since the lawsuit added risk to the bond after the rate was set, the New Hampshire Municipal Bond Bank decided to withhold the ORHS bond from this bond sale.
The ORHS bond sale must now wait for the lawsuit to be resolved. This will happen after the suit is heard by the Strafford Superior Court.
The next sale of bonds by the NHMBB is scheduled for next June. But, there are other ways to sell a school bond, particularly one of $20 million. One way is through a commercial bank. But, any way it is sold, the lawsuit must be resolved first.
The meetings scheduled before the lawsuit became known remain on the calendar. This includes the meeting with the School Board on 14 Dec. to present the alternative for the site plan. This alternative moves the bus loop to the rear of the building, so about $200,000 and many of the trees to the north of the building could be saved. The architect and site engineer are still working to ensure the athletic fields won't be impacted.
The other meeting that remains on the calendar is the 16 Dec. meeting with Durham town officials. This meeting is to review the site plan as part of the local permitting process.
On 10 Dec., Dan Bisson, the architect from Team Design Inc. met with the State Fire Marshal to begin the permitting process at the state level.
The 8 Dec. meeting at ORHS to discuss phasing occurred with Tom Carroll instead of "Nappy" Napeirkoski and Blair Townsend from MacMillan. Due to the lawsuit, the bid process has slowed down. Basically, we can't sign contracts until the bond sale is complete. As a result, the project manager from MacMillan, Blair Townsend, has scaled back the time he spends on the ORHS project and is splitting his time with another project.
ORHS opened again for school on Monday morning after being closed Thursday and Friday of last week because of the fire in the wood shop late Wednesday night. Chris Cairns held a meeting for parents, students, and teachers in the ORHS cafeteria last Sunday at 3:00 to answer questions about the fire, the clean up, and the investigation. The displaced teacher and students are meeting in a modular classroom while the search continues for available shop facilities.
The structural engineer for the bond project was on the scene early that Thursday and determined that the roof structure was damaged and no longer safe; it can no longer hold the load from a large snowfall. The insurance firm had their own structural engineer review the structure and their adjusters have reviewed all the damage. The SAU is now awaiting the final adjusters report.
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Last update on 10-Dec-99 at 10:27 PM.
http://www.orol.org/schools/orhs/issues/space/orhs_news/19991210.html
This page is edited by David K. Taylor. Please send questions or comments to editor@orol.org.