The Superintendent of the Nodaway Valley School District was disappointed that an $8.8-million dollar bond measure failed to garner the necessary percentage of voter approval, Tuesday, but Dr. Casey Berlau told KJAN News the need for a more modern building remains, and will likely be brought up for a vote at a later date.

Dr. Casey Berlau, Superintendent at Nodaway Valley

He says in the months to come, they will talk with district patrons and get a better feeling for what concerns they have and how they might address them, along with making any adjustments to the plan before the next time the measure is put before the voters.

The bond would have been used to build and equip a new elementary building and improve the site in the Nodaway Valley School District. Unofficial results from the Adair County Auditor’s Office show that while there were 397 “Yes” votes to 283 “No” votes for the $8.8-million dollar referendum, the measure needed 60-percent approval in order to pass. It received 58.4-percent. There were a total of 680 votes cast out of the 3,004 registered voters in the district, or about a 23-percent turnout.

Berlau said a couple of informational meetings were held prior to the vote, and the necessary information was available on the district’s website, but there wasn’t much in the line of concern from the public over the cost and taxation. He said there was a good turnout at the last meeting in Greenfield, and the questions they received tended to lean toward the design and location of the building.

Berlau said the building will still need to be replaced or undergo extensive renovations, sometime soon. He said “We have to do something in the coming years whether it’s build new or address the needs that our current building has. At this point I think our board probably still stands behind their position that it makes more sense to build new, then to dump significant money, over 6-million dollars…which is probably pretty conservative…into a 1955 building.”

In fact, officials have said it would cost $6.5-million to renovate the existing facility, which is not energy efficient, is difficult to maintain, and not ADA compliant. The new structure would have included a safe room/storm shelter, and met all energy efficiency and ADA requirements.