The Duncan Public School district approved the low bid from BancFirst for $7,645,000.00 for the sale of the school bond at a special meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
President of McDonald Associates Ron Fisher, who is the advisor to Duncan Public Schools, was in attendance and answered questions from the board about the bids.
Three different bids were read by Fisher; Country Club Bank's bid was for a net interest cost of $450,468 with an average rate of 1.947128 percent, the second bid came from BancFirst for a net interest cost of $432,520 --and an average rate of 1.869548 percent. Legacy Bank was the final bid with a net interest cost of $519,000, and an average rate of 2.243354 percent.
Fisher said that according to Oklahoma Law, if the school board was to accept any of the offered bids, it must be the lowest --thereafter, BancFirst was awarded the bid.
Eric Davis gave the motion to accept, with Krista Parker seconding the motion. The sale of the bond agenda item passed with a 3-0 vote. School board members Greg Neal and Christopher Schreckengost were not present at the noon meeting.
Superintendent Melonie Hau said the purpose of today's meeting was to fulfill the law regarding bonds for the district. Hau also wanted to get this process started in a timely fashion.
"It is important because we are following the law and Mr.Fisher helps advise us with the bond obligations, which can be complicated for school districts," Hau said. "He helps us weed through the process and make sure we are doing everything legally. This allows us to start to have committee meetings and (talk) about how those funds will be expended."
Hau said these bonds will be used for transportation and technology only, and will not be used for capital improvements. The previous bond was specifically for the improvements on the high school, with some funds for technology included.
"These monies will be used for buses and suburbans ...we will be able to see newer buses on the road starting next school year," Hau said. "The other funds will be used to provide Chromebooks for kids and upgrade teacher computers --so those will be things we will be working on next fall."
According to Hau, July will be the first time that the district will receive an allocation from this bond. Hau said they are currently shopping around and said the timeframe will meet her goal --in order to make the best investment.
"We want to make sure that we are shopping and looking for the best investment," Hau said. "(The buses are) at the top of our list for using the bond money (and) the technology we know that will come --we want to make sure our teachers our prepared and that our technology department is prepared-- so that we can have a successful rollout."
Hau said the district will be starting the process now since the school board has met their legal obligations.
"Those meetings will start this summer --and we will be working all summer," Hau said. "We want to make sure that we are sticking to our plan and (the) promise we made to the community about how these funds will be used."
During the school board meeting, the district also took action on several topics; ranging from purchasing employment and staff resignations, to several other employment needs for the district.
The next Duncan School board meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on June 20 in the board room at the Administration Office.
