MFISD introduces traffic improvement plans

By Nathan Hendrix
Staff Writer

The Marble Falls Independent School District school board discussed preliminary plans for extensive paving additions and changes to be made at several campuses throughout the district at the monthly board meeting on Jan. 22.

The improvements will be funded using the $55 million bond that was passed by voters in November; the paving additions represent only a fraction of the improvements the district plans on making using the bond funds. The school board approved a contract with Huckabee, Inc for architectural and engineering services, including services related to the paving projects, for 7.5 percent of the entire project cost.

Superintendent Dr. Chris Allen began the presentation with Marble Falls High School; the proposal includes creating a bus loop that starts from Manzano Mile, drops off and picks up students near the theatre on the backside of the school and exits via Manzano Mile.

“The motivation behind this is a couple of different things,” Allen said. “If you've ever tried to turn left off of (Ranch Road) 1431 to Mustang Drive, you know the buses stack up there. This would get the buses out of that queue.”

He said it would also relieve congestion at the front of the high school. Currently, bus pick-up, parent pick-up and student parking is all at the front of the building. The proposal would remove the buses from that traffic and expedite after-school pick-up, according to Allen.

The design also calls for an access-control gate to be added to the bus route so only buses can enter through the new route. A currently unimproved area will also be paved to provide additional parking for staff because the bus loop will remove several parking spaces from the staff area.

Board member Alex Payson raised the concern of buses being able to make a left turn from Manzano Mile on to RR 1431 considering there is no protected left turn at that intersection.

“It's a concern of mine as well,” Allen said. “We're in conversation with the city [about] what it's going to take to turn that into a light.”

Board member Lee Ann Johnson asked if the proposed plan would interfere with parents of Colt Elementary students who use Manzano Mile as the primary road to enter the school. Allen said due to the staggered starts of release times between the high school and elementary school, no problem is anticipated.

Allen also presented proposals for Marble Falls Middle School and Highland Lakes Elementary School. The middle school will receive a new bus loop and a covered sidewalk for students to travel from the drop-off area to the building. The plan will provide additional visitor parking, including more parallel parking spots.

HLES will also receive a new bus loop and covered sidewalk.

“The way they do things now is they line the buses up in front of the building, and then stack parents up behind them,” Allen said. “No parent can pick their student up until after we roll buses.”

The plan will remove the buses from the line in front of the building and allow parents to pick students up quicker. Allen said the plan will be a “great benefit” to the campus.

Design proposals for Marble Falls Elementary School were taken “back to the drawing board” because Allen said he and the design team felt they created a plan that moved the issues to different areas rather than solving them. He said the conversation is taking place, and designs will be available in the future.

The current timeline calls for all of the paving improvements to “be done or substantially done” before the start of the 2019-2020 school year, Allen said.

The board addressed other details related to the bond usage and the future projects of MSISD schools.

- The board approved a contract with TFE for lockdown systems and keyless entry systems to be used at all campuses around the district. The contract calls for the cost of all work to not exceed $300,000. Dr. Jeff Gasaway, assistant superintendent of administration, said the current estimate is approximately $291,000.

- The board approved a motion to approve a professional development agreement with E3 and the Texas Association of School Boards Energy Management Services that allows the organization to perform inspections on the condition of the HVAC in the district to provide a more accurate bid to the board.

- Brian Grubbs, a representative of the district's financial advising firm, presented the bid package for the sale of the 2019 series bonds. The district received bids from 10 different firms that represented up to 40 different firms that participated. Grubbs said bids are generally submitted as syndicates because they don't want a single firm to be responsible for the sale of $55 million worth of bonds.

“We hoped for somewhere between four to six bids so we get competition,” Grubbs said. “We also wanted to see firms get aggressive and bid through the market.”

The winning bid was for a 3.118 percent interest rate. Grubbs said the market is currently around the 3.14 range, so the district is happy with the low bid they received.

The package is for a 20-year term, and the first payment will be due on Aug. 15.

The next MFISD school board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. in the MFISD Central Office community room.

Send the staff writer a note at nathan@highlandernews.com.