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Dist. 200 board approves final phase of facilities master plan work

For a second time, two Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 school board members have voted against extending a contract with a firm tasked with creating a facilities master plan for the district.

Jim Gambaiani and Jim Mathieson on Wednesday opposed paying Perkins + Will an additional $44,000 to complete the fourth and final phase of the planning process.

Before the vote, Superintendent Jeff Schuler stressed that staff members recommended approval of the pact because the planning process is already 75 percent complete.

"Truly, to not do that at this point ... just means you're not going to get a final report," he said.

Last June, the board approved the first two phases of work, which included creating a planning team, establishing goals, touring all district facilities, collecting data and making assessments. Phase three, approved in October, included three community engagement sessions where public input was gathered about the state of the facilities.

Gambaiani and Mathieson voted against all four planning phases. On Wednesday, Gambaiani asked why the board didn't receive a packet laying out conclusions the firm has made so far about work that needs to be done at each school.

"Why can't we as a board see all those numbers and information before we move to the next phase?" he said. "It's there. Obviously they've done the work. We've paid for it."

Schuler however, said all the information has been released and was on display at the last community engagement session.

"We can certainly provide for you the most recent concepts that we have," he said. "The board can have any document that's been shared with the public."

The board is expected to receive the final report draft next month. Board members will start reviewing and prioritizing future facility improvements during an all-day meeting scheduled for Saturday, April 30.

"The solutions you see right now are very broad," board member Brad Paulsen said. "I think the objective, the purpose of this master plan is to develop what the needs are, figure out where our priorities are and then develop a plan and a series of funding options to address it. What we have right now is not a completed plan."

Still, Mathieson said he felt the process should be put on hold until the board could address "the bigger picture."

"I feel like we're spending money to fine-tune a program that we don't even know if we can afford," he said. "I just feel like we're getting ahead of ourselves before we address that issue."

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