Posted: Feb. 16, 2010 |(0) Comments

Menomonee Falls — School district central office operations will move to Village Hall, N8480 Pilgrim Road, late this summer.

The village has tapped a new revenue source - about $33,000 for rent and $14,000 for utilities - and will more efficiently utilize Village Hall space as staffing levels have decreased over the years.

The benefits of the move for the school district include cost avoidance - the district's central office, W16579 Menomonee Ave., likely will need a new boiler plus other improvements in the near future - and some savings by reducing some custodial and secretarial staff.

"We just aren't moving in together," School Board President Kathy Shurilla said. "We are getting married and we have a 15-page pre-nup."

However, some school district employees are concerned about how central office staff and operations will fit in the smaller space - 6,556 square feet compared to about 29,000 square feet - job security and the swift approval with no input from employees or residents.

The Village and School boards on Monday approved the lease after more than a year of closed-door meetings and negotiations.

As part of the move, the school district's alternative high school program will move to the community center. The food pantry, which operates out of the current central office, will need a new location, as will some CESA programs.

Remodeling third-floor space

As part of the lease terms, the district will lease the Village Hall space - an area on the third floor on the north side of the building, primarily the engineering and public works departments - for 10 years with automatic five-year renewals. Those village departments will move to a location in the middle of the building.

"We can handle this reshuffling, and it will not strain our space needs," Village Manager Mark Fitzgerald said.

Village Hall improvements, completed in 2002, are funded through landfill tipping fees.

In the long run, the deal is a "sound value" for the community because the district will avoid funneling money into central office repairs and both entities will realize cost savings, Fitzgerald said.

"It is hard to put a price tag on it," he said.

In the first year, the move will be somewhat of a wash for the district as utilities at the current location are between $45,000 and $50,000, Superintendent Keith Marty said. The district will renovate its space in Village Hall at a cost of about $50,000 to $75,000, but that will be funded as a part of the district's budgeted capital projects.

Marty had said at a recent School Board meeting, the district could save about $80,000 in staffing costs, alluding to the central office move. But the district will have to pay between $9,000 and $12,000 for utilities at the building to prevent pipes from freezing, for example.

Vacant buildings could be sold

The move will leave the district with two vacant buildings. The School Board last year voted on a grade reconfiguration that closed Thomas Jefferson Middle School, N8301 LaVergne Ave.

He said officials will work on a plan for those sites on 30-plus acres in the next months.

Marty said the district will work with the village to determine the potential for the area, whether that be residential or parks, as enrollment looks to remain stable for 10 years, possibly more.

Fitzgerald said, from a development standpoint, village officials have prepared some very conceptual ideas for the adjacent sites, and will react accordingly when district officials make a decision.

The district would hold an informational meeting on any proposal and then a meeting of the electorate for approval to sell the land, if the School Board decides to go in that direction, Marty said.

More deals ahead

The boards also plan to negotiate additional deals in which the district would lease the former Parks Department building, W15250 MacArthur Drive, for its building and maintenance operations. The district then would vacate the former Sunnyside School property, which the village would lease from the district, reserving the 2.5 acres adjacent to the school building for a future fire station. The property is at the corner of Menomonee Avenue and Main Street.

The village also is looking to turn over Trenary Field, which is in Riverside Park at Pilgrim Road and Menomonee River Parkway, to the district, which runs the village's recreation programs.

Village Manager Mark Fitzgerald said the next contract is somewhat of a land swap as it will be a no-cash lease. However, the Sunnyside property has "some unusual title issues," which are complicating negotiations.

Ultimately, the two entities are looking to work on agreements to merge and share costs for internal business operations, facilities and equipment, organizational overhead, buildings and grounds maintenance, and technology management.

"Our organizations have significant areas of overlap," Fitzgerald said.