Unit 4 Referendum News

A couple news stories popped up relating to Unit 4's referendum construction and renovations this week. First was a followup on possible night games for Central High School that typically has had to use a field across town. From Wednesday's News-Gazette:

Champaign council members voice concerns about night football at McKinley
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[Champaign Central High School's new head football coach Tim Turner] was among the speakers who urged the Champaign City Council on Tuesday night to consider an old idea that was revived this week — let the Maroons play their home games at McKinley Field, which is much closer to Central's soon-to-expand campus and about to get an upgrade itself as part of Unit 4's $183.4 million facilities package.

As of now, a proposed referendum-related agreement between Unit 4 and city government leaves open the door for McKinley — the Maroons' practice home on New Street — to become Central's main field for varsity games.

The council voted Tuesday for city staff to address that open door — in the form of adding specific language about night football at McKinley.

Echoing a concern expressed by council member Greg Stock in a Tuesday News-Gazette story, several council members said night games would be too detrimental to the residential neighborhood surrounding the field.

Council member Alicia Beck, whose district includes part of the neighborhood, said her constituents had common concerns about night games. They include parking and traffic (some residents park on the street now) and streetlights (the neighborhood doesn't have them), as well as issues related to trash and public-safety enforcement...

Tuesday's meeting was a study session, so no final vote was taken on the intergovernmental agreement between the district and city, which includes many referendum-related items.

Full article here. There were some cost overruns on the Spalding project that officials appear to be dismissing as part of the process and not a harbinger of cost overruns to come. From Yesterday's News-Gazette:

Spalding Park project's budget overage not necessarily sign of things to come
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Originally projected to cost $3.6 million in 2016, the project's revised budget approved by the board now stands at $3,854,055.

"That (vote) was 2016, and here we are two years later, accepting bids, and we couldn't perfectly budget projects and stuff like that," board President Chris Kloeppel said. "That's a big piece of it: We're just so far removed from some of those original numbers that we're going to have some spots."

Not that they won't — or, in the case of the Spalding project, didn't — try, officials said.

Elizabeth Stegmaier, Unit 4's director of capital projects and planning, said estimates for Spalding had been coming in "since the fall" of last year. Even then, the figures were higher than expected.

"We had been making adjustments to the scope of the Spalding Park project all throughout the design phase as we were getting estimates," she said. "So it wasn't that when we finally went out to bid, we had this gold-plated project."

In April, Stegmaier said, the district put out a call for bids for Spalding, but they didn't come back as favorably as officials had hoped.

So the district tried again, this time removing two items from the overall project — a practice infield and an irrigation system — for comparison's sake.

"Without the alternates, we were approximately over $174,000," Stegmaier said.

Ultimately, it was determined that those two items taken out in the re-bidding process were too integral to leave out. But not every item on everyone's wish list made the final cut, Kloeppel emphasized...

The Spalding project, while at a lower price point compared to the work scheduled for six school buildings, has proven to be a learning opportunity, Kloeppel said. It has led district officials to discuss preventative measures for other parts of the referendum package.

Full article here with more details and commentary from officials.