Consultant hired for school buildings study

OCONTO FALLS — Madison-based Nexus Solutions has been hired to conduct a study of Oconto Falls School District facilities, with an eye toward a potential referendum on the future of aging Washington Middle School.

Superintendent Dean Hess told the school board May 11 that Nexus “comes highly rated from school districts throughout the state of Wisconsin.”

Oconto Falls has been working for several years toward a decision on whether to replace or repair Washington, which is more than a century old at its core with a sizable addition built in the late 1950s. The district purchased land last year across County Road I from the existing high school and elementary school as a potential new school site.

Administrators reviewed requests for proposals and conducted interviews with three qualified companies or agencies, Hess said. The others were CESA 10 — each cooperative education service agency in the state has a specialty, and the one based in Chippewa Falls specializes in audits of physical plants, Hess said — and Hoffman Planning Design and Construction Inc., an Appleton company the district has worked with in the past.

The agreement with Nexus applies only to the facilities review and does not represent a commitment to continue with the company through the planning and/or construction process, he said.

“It doesn’t in any way require us to continue forward with Nexus if we get through the audit process and for whatever reason decide to go with a different company,” Hess said.

The facilities audit is expected to help the board make a decision not just on Washington Middle School but all upcoming capital needs.

“The district will receive feedback on the condition of not only the middle school but other facilities, which not only help us to gain a better understanding of the capital needs but it also provides us with an end product that’ll help us for our capital work over the next 10 years,” Hess said.

After the board voted unanimously to approve Nexus, Hess said administrators were impressed by the other two candidates.

“We just want to mention that all three did a nice job and this doesn’t preclude the district from potential of working with either one of these other options in the future should the need arise,” he said.

wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com