WEST SUNBURY — A $15 million to $17 million bond could be in the future of the Moniteau School District.

The money would be used to refinance old bonds and renovate the high school and elementary school.

“With the refinancing and everything that goes along with it, we're probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 million to $17 million total to pay off the old debt and borrow the new money,” said John D'Amore, the district's business manager.

Moniteau School Board members heard an update about the district's renovation project and tentative timeline involving Moniteau Junior and Senior High School and Dassa McKinney Elementary School during Monday's regular meeting.

“Right now we are putting construction documents together,” said Jeff Campbell, the district's director of operations who is serving as the project manager. “We actually have blueprints already.”

School board President Kathy McBride was not present.

In other business, the district's superintendent search continues.Applications are being accepted for the district's superintendent position until Nov. 8, said Beatrice Heck, board vice president.Moniteau Superintendent Sean Arney, who arrived in 2017, announced his resignation in September after indicating that he plans to return to Montgomery County for family reasons.Arney was hired at $137,000 and now earns $142,884, according to the district's business office. He continues to work as the district's superintendent and conduct business as usual.

A bond that includes the renovation project could be seen around February.“By that time, we'll have a bond issue agreement in place also to arrange for the financing, assuming everything goes as planned,” D'Amore said.The project timeline includes a review for the school board and construction schedule.Last year, Campbell created a feasibility study for the district that detailed current and projected needs.From the study, CJL Engineering of Pittsburgh was hired to look at the equipment and determine how to address those needs, Campbell said.

Needs at the high school include a new roof, windows, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, energy management controls, an emergency generator that would be large enough to supply the school in the event of a power failure and auditorium upgrades, including seating and lighting.New rigging is being built in the auditorium, he said.Work at the elementary campus is similar, including new heating, ventilation and air conditioning.Engineers put together a base bid and alternate bid projections for each school, Campbell said. The alternate bid is to address air conditioning for the entire school.The base cost of the high school work is about $4.5 million, and the alterative cost is about $5.7 million, Campbell said. For the elementary school, the base cost would be about $2 million and about $3.8 for the alternate cost.“The energy savings are going to offset the cost of the new equipment,” Campbell said.Some projects are being done ahead of a bond.“We are looking to start some of the work in the springtime — April,” Campbell said about the roof work.The roof at the high school has leaks and its warranty has expired, he said.“When you start to incur substantial costs for repairs, it gets to the point where you need to replace the roof rather than continue to patch it,” he said, adding the roof has been in place since 1996.Another item to be included in the bond's financing is the new fitness center, which cost about $140,000 to build, Campbell said, adding it is similar to the fitness center at Slippery Rock University.The district's 2005 bond and 2010 bond can be called next spring because of their age, said D'Amore.Until the bids are received, it is unknown what the dollar amount of the bond issue will be, he said.“What the building committee and board are committing to now will be it,” he said. “Historically, we don't undertake projects unless they're absolutely necessary.

Nov. 11: All documents completed and submitted to the school board for review and approval.Nov. 25: Documents approved for bid by the school board.Jan. 6: Bid documents available for contractors.Feb. 3: Bids due.Feb. 10: Bids presented to the school board.Feb. 11: Project documents review begin, clearences, etc.To be determined: Kickoff meeting