Some school board members squeamish over LEED issue

Town of Crested Butte holds firm

Crested Butte town manager Susan Parker tried to address the concerns members of the RE1J school board have about the town’s stance on a costly environmental certification for the planned addition to the Crested Butte Community School.

During the negotiations for an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the school district and the town, which is needed for the planned school expansion, the two entities came to an impasse over whether or not the addition should be Leadership in Energy Efficient Design (LEED) building certified.
The district has made the argument that the standard set by LEED was already being met by the design and the certification would add as much as $130,000 spent unnecessarily to the expansion.
“My understanding of things is that the cost of a third-party verification to reach LEED standards but not get the certificate is essentially the same as the cost of a LEED certification,” said Crested Butte councilperson Kimberly Metsch.
On November 3, the day before Election Day, the Town Council voted that it would require the school be LEED certified as a condition of the IGA.
“What this all boils down to is, how hard and fast is the town council on getting the LEED certification?” board vice-president Dr. Terri Wenzlaff asked at the special session on Monday, December 15.
Speaking for herself, Parker said it was her opinion that after considering the issue for two months and hearing the concerns of their constituents, the council was firmly in favor of having the certification.
She said if there were no major changes to the document, she had the authority to execute the proposed IGA, which has been going back and forth between the lawyers for either side for several of weeks. Removing the LEED requirement would be considered a major change.
According to Roy Blythe, principal and owner of the Blythe group, which is managing the district’s projects, the decision to seek the certification would have to come soon, since the certification happens throughout the planning and design processes that has already begun.
By waiting to make the decision, he said planning could be delayed, pushing construction into the winter months and costing the district extra money. According to Blythe, just building the school to meet the LEED standard, without the certification, would cost the district an additional 5 percent to 10 percent in construction costs.
“The frustration with this, if there is any, is that we are being asked to spend $130,000 on what is essentially a piece of paper,” said school board director Anne Hausler. “I’m not sure the majority of our constituents would see that as money spent wisely.”
Another reason the town supports the LEED certification is that it was a condition of the IGA between the district and the town in 1995 that allowed for the original transfer of land at the CBCS site. That agreement holds the district to the town standard, which requires buildings of more than 20,000 square feet be LEED certified.
Board treasurer Bill Powell maintained the position that the current direction the IGA was taking was not consistent with the message that was taken to voters about the “system that was in place to build the six schools.” He added that he was concerned with the way people would perceive the certification of one school and not the others.
Powell also expressed concern about the cost of the certification and what that meant for the quality of the facility, and even the effect it would have on the education being offered.
“We promised the public that we would make every dollar work for the children as close to the classroom as possible. I have to wonder if that money couldn’t be spent somewhere that is more directly related to learning at the school. We’re all dedicated to giving the children a safe place to learn,” he said.
Several board members also expressed unease at being perceived as favoring CBCS by seeking the certification over other district schools.
“If the public perceives that one school is being treated as a fair-haired child, that’s going to cause resentment and the feeling that we see one end of the valley is better than the other end of the valley, and that is what we want to avoid,” Powell said.
But the money for any certification will come from the budget that has been allocated for that particular school. The budget for every school project has already been set, and the district cannot pay for additional costs at one site with funds from another.
According to superintendent Jon Nelson, if the cost of the certification pushes CBCS over budget, there is more than $240,000 of the $55 million bond that is not spoken for being reserved for contingency items, like the certification.
“It wouldn’t be a situation where one school is taking money from another school,” Nelson said. “We would just decide if we wanted to take money that is left over and reinvest it in the schools or return it to the taxpayers by paying the bond off sooner.”
The board agreed that it would make a decision by Friday, December 19 to go forward with the certification or attempt to rework the IGA around that LEED certification requirement.