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LEWIS CENTRAL BOND ISSUE: District tries again this year with lower price tag and emphasis on security

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — After a bond issue failed in the Lewis Central School District last year, leaders reduced the price tag and focused on improving existing facilities in this year's ballot.

  • “You know the high school parking lot is atrocious. There’s potholes you could put an apartment in. It’s aggressive,” said Council Bluffs City Council Member Roger Sandau, who has four kids in the district.
  • They’re proposing improvements to existing facilities: sewer and drainage systems, parking lots, electrical and HVAC and, crucially, updated security systems.
  • “There’s just more threats than ever before,” said Hoesing. “So the safety systems that were put into place when these buildings were built were great for the time, but now there’s so many updates.”

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

School safety and infrastructure are on the ballot in the Lewis Central School District this year. I’m Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter katrina markel at Titan Hill Intermediate.

I’m here because on Thursday, this school hosted a satellite voting location.

Anyone in Pottawattamie County could fill out an absentee ballot, but Lewis Central officials hope voters in their district will support the $30 million school bond issue — allowing the school to improve facilities.

“You know the high school parking lot is atrocious. There’s potholes you could put an apartment in. It’s aggressive,” said Council Bluffs City Council Member Roger Sandau, who has four kids in the district.

He supports the bond, but for neighbors who are worried about the tax implications he says: “A successful community, you know, the cornerstone is successful schools.”

Superintendent Dr. Brent Hoesing says the district listened to voters after a $90 million failed at the ballot box last year: “.... We need to break it down into phases, do less, take care of your current facilities.”

They’re proposing improvements to existing facilities: sewer and drainage systems, parking lots, electrical and HVAC and, crucially, updated security systems.

Adrian Okerbloom is a recent Lewis Central graduate. She hopes younger neighbors like her, who aren't parents yet, will still vote ‘yes’ on the bond issue.

“You never know what’s going to happen in the world and feeling safe and secure is the number one thing,” she said.

“There’s just more threats than ever before,” said Hoesing. “So the safety systems that were put into place when these buildings were built were great for the time, but now there’s so many updates.”

On Tuesday, Pottawattamie County will have another satellite voting location at Iowa Western Community College.