Even before the Building Excellent Schools Today Board decides which school districts it will fund on requests, it wants proof that the school districts will be able to manage the funds in a correct way.
Michael Canzona, chief of operations for the Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1, said BEST wants proof that the district will be able to manage the more than $40 million it needs to build a new high school, not just the $21 million it could award the district with a grant.
Canzona said the district needs to decide who would be responsible for carrying the grant as well as handling the administrative part of it.
He said if this is not done to the satisfaction of BEST, the grant request would not even be considered.
As chief of operations, Canzona has been the main person who has been working with BEST, but he will be leaving the district in less than a month.
Canzona said the integrity of Re-1 and its ability to manage $40 million is required before the date when BEST will select its recipients. BEST expects to make a decision June 26.
They need to be assured we can do due diligence of managing the grant, he said. Who is the person that is going to be in charge of that?
The board asked outgoing SWOS Director Judy Hite her thoughts since she had been successful in getting the award, though voters rejected the proposal to match the funds last year.
Hite said the process of finding and appointing someone to be the point person needs to be done very quickly and mentioned she was the point of contact person last year for SWOS.
Another issue Canzona mentioned was that the district would have to come up with either a building design or a construction manager and architect.
People are very cautious about this budget money, he said.
Re-1 Interim Superintendent Mary Rubadeau suggested hiring a representative who could meet the architect and answer the right questions.
Rubadeau said Re-1 is comprised of educators, so it needs need to fund someone who has expertise in the construction field.
The representative would also be responsible for the presentation to the BEST board on the grant possibility.
We need to have a plan of who is going to be the point person, Canzona said. We need to tap into the expertise of someone who is local.
Canzona also said Re-1 needs a third party from outside the district to ensure the calibrations of the HVAC units are met.
After Tuesdays meeting, Canzona said what the district really needs is a person who is able to oversee a project of this magnitude.
Reach Michael Maresh at michaelm@cortezjournal.com
