The Duneland School Board on Monday approved an agreement with the Damon Run Conservancy District that will bring municipal sewer and water to the Liberty Schools.

The agreement calls for Duneland to pay an annual fee of $50,000, plus an undetermined fee based on actual usage. The $50,000 “membership” fee could be adjusted downward later, based on the number of additional hook-ons to the conservancy district, which is serviced by the Portage sewer utility.

The fee appears in keeping with Duneland’s annual fee of $26,000 to the Indian Boundary Conservancy District for sewage service for Brummitt Elementary. But Duneland Superintendent Dirk Baer said that unlike the IBCD agreement, the Damon Run agreement will provide both sewer and water for two schools, instead of just sewer service for one school.

Baer said it’s not definite when the sewer and water will begin, but that it could be timed in conjunction with the construction for the new addition at Liberty Elementary School.

Before the school board approved the Damon Run agreement, the board was urged to reject the pact by Liberty Township resident J.F. Schrader.

Speaking from the floor, Schrader said Duneland would be better off keeping its wastewater treatment plant at the Liberty Schools. Noting that the conservancy district is also responsible for stormwater drainage, he raised a concern that Duneland School taxpayers will be subsidizing drainage in residential subdivisions.

The board, however, unanimously approved the agreement.

Baer said one issue that had to be worked out in the agreement dealt with the equivalent number of residential dwelling units that the two Liberty Schools would represent. An earlier agreement put the annual fee at $72,000, but the cost was reduced after it was determined that the two schools represent the equivalent of 27 homes.

Duneland Director of Special Services Mark McKibben said the costs to Duneland could be lower, because the school system will be able to recover any tap-on fees from others hooking onto the new water line.

In a related matter, the school board approved the additional appropriation and a bond resolution necessary for the $5.58 million addition to Liberty Elementary.

The addition, approved last month, calls for a new 29,050 square foot pod for kindergarten and first-grade classrooms, in turn freeing up space for the other grades and for new computer labs and other facilities. The new pod will be built around a courtyard that can be used for outdoor learning.

The addition is expected to be ready in the fall of 2010. Taxpayers will also begin to pay off the bond next year.

The additional appropriation will allow Duneland to access the bond money. The bonds are expected to be sold within a week or so, said school board attorney Michael Harris.

Posted 7/14/2009