District cuts storage area from ag building

The Wittenberg-Birnamwood School Board has been forced to tweak plans for the new building planned as part of the $13.1 million referendum approved in November.

Bids for the building to be constructed next to the high school in Wittenberg came in higher than expected, according to school officials, who in February reviewed a new floor plan for the 7,800-square-foot building that was intended to be used primarily for agriculture classrooms and maintenance storage.

The budget for the building was set at just under $1 million. The original plan, however, would would have cost about $40,000 more than that, so the school board, working with contractors Hoffman Planning, Design & Construction, decided to eliminate the storage space to stay within budget.

“Fortunately, we are still in the early stages of design, and are able to easily make adjustments to move forward and bring the district projects in on budget,” said Matt McGregor, project manager for the Appleton-based firm.

“We are projecting breaking ground on the additions and ag building fall of 2019 and completing in the spring of 2020, with the majority of the interior renovation work being completed the summer of 2020,” McGregor said.

The space that had been designated for maintenance storage, with 14-by-12-foot overhead doors, will be used primarily for construction trades classes.

Vicky Pietz, wife of school board member Chris Pietz and dean of the School of Agricultural Sciences at the Northcentral Technical College in Wausau, provided some input on the ag building plan at the Feb. 28 board meeting.

“How you decide on these plans depends on how you want to manage the flow of the students and the animals,” she said.

Pietz said the plans should help protect students as well as the animals from the risk of diseases, include an area to hose down boots and remove coveralls before rejoining the student population, and a separate area for the students to wash their hands rather than using the bathrooms used for the rest of the building.

The animal area, which will contain adjustable pens for six to 10 animals, will include overhead water pipes with hoses and plenty of floor drains to keep the area clean.

The district for now plans to work with smaller animals there such as goats and pigs.

School board president Chuck Wendler pointed out that the plan also provides additional options to accommodate future growth. The activity room, which has a wall of windows for observing the animals, could be converted to another classroom if needed, he said.

The Wittenberg Village Board on March 5 approved a conditional use permit for the property to allow the school to house six to 10 animals.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” village President Bill Switalla said. “The school is out of town, covered by hills and with no real neighbors.”

In addition to the new building, the referendum projects include a two-story addition to Wittenberg Elementary-Middle School and two new classrooms at Birnamwood Elementary-Middle School.

Work this summer will include security improvements at entrances for all three district schools, minor adjustments at both elementary buildings and a reconfiguration of office space at the high school.

The largest project at the high school will be installing a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. Engineers have not yet determined whether it can be finished in one summer.

District officials estimated prior to the referendum that the $13.1 million project will increase the mill rate $1.39 per $1,000 of equalized valuation, which translates to $139 more per year on a $100,000 home, for the next 20 years.