Hoffman hired to plan future referendum

The Shawano School Board started a push for a 2024 referendum on March 27 by hiring Hoffman Planning, Design and Construction, Inc. The company will assess district facilities and determine what sized project will be comfortable enough for residents and taxpayers to pay over the next 15-20 years.

The Appleton-based firm was one of three that made a pitch to the board on what services it will provide. The board unanimously voted for Hoffman over Miron Construction, which worked with the district on referenda in 1995, 2008 and 2015; and Bayland Buildings, which constructed the career and technical education addition at Shawano Community High School in 2013, along with some recent work with the Bowler School District and the building of Wolf River Lutheran High School.

The timeline for the Shawano School District is to update its facilities assessment, conduct a new community survey with options for capital and operational referenda and potentially ask voters for approval in the April 2024 general election, when municipal, county and school board races will be taking place. Hoffman, according to officials, seemed to fit the bill best after an hour-long closed session.

“We had to look at the total circumstances involved, and that includes the fees,” said board president Mike Musolff. “Hoffman will not be charging us until after a referendum which, given our financial situation, my thought was that would be the best option to save on some costs.”

Superintendent Kurt Krizan agreed with Musolff’s assessment but noted having three nearby firms to choose from and having strong pitches from each of them puts the district in a position where they know they’ll get a good deal.

“We would have been great going with any of them, but in the end we really looked at the totality (Hoffman) could bring to the district and how they could support us moving forward,” Krizan said.

He added a referendum is not set in stone yet, and the priority is determining what needs are immediate for the district. Krizan said the district will be building upon the work done by a task force last year, but he noted that Hoffman will be a fresh set of eyes to make sure things aren’t overlooked.

If a referendum is successful, Hoffman would seek $12,000 to reimburse the company for its costs to that point.

Curt Peeters, senior project architect with Hoffman, told the board that his company will have a facilities assessment ready for perusal by July 1.

“We already have a team of engineers and architects like myself that are ready to go through your buildings and start looking at the buildings’ general condition,” Peeters said.

Hoffman senior project manager Matt McGregor acknowledged that the Shawano School District is in a tough spot with the public in the wake of how a previous exploration of referenda went down. The process for this one will be completely transparent, he said, and the community will see everything.

“A great example of that is the school district of Manawa,” McGregor said. “Prior to their referendum, they were lacking a lot of trust in the community, from community members trusting the school board to trusting administration. Some of the decisions made in the past even before the current administration was on board.”

McGregor said that Hoffman’s transparency every step of the way helped the public to see the projects they were approving would be worth the price. Manawa was able to expand its middle and high schools, renovate all of its schools and build a new fitness center next to the high school. Hoffman is currently working with Manawa on solar energy projects.

“We showed everything. All of the cards are on the table,” McGregor said. “That really brought their community together, and the community said: ‘We’re going to support a $12 million referendum, and that’s it.’ Even though they had $20 million of needs, we went to the drawing board and did as much as possible with the $12 million.”

Board member John Arens noted that transparency was vital to passing a referendum this go-around, because the opportunity to grow can only happen if the district has a healthy school system.

“I sat in a focus group the last time we tried to get a referendum through,” Arens said. “All we heard about was transparency, transparency, transparency. You come back to the next meeting and it’s like all these things were decided behind the scenes, and nothing was transparent. In fact, it got to the point where the person next to me said: ‘Are they going to offer me $4,000 more for my car than it’s actually worth?’ The people of Shawano, they got burned. It was not fun.”

Hoffman doesn’t have experience with the Shawano School District, but the firm worked with Clintonville School District on a $37 million referendum in 2021, Wittenberg-Birnamwood School District on its $13.1 million referendum in 2018 that built a new high school agriculture building and renovated all of its buildings and the Marion School District with current upgrades.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com