(Riverton, Wyo.) – The Riverton School Board learned Tuesday that a public meeting on the disposition of the district’s Tonkin Activities Center would be held on Tuesday, Feb. 26th. Later that evening, the school board will have the activities center on its action items.
In a presentation to the board, Superintendent Terry Snyder said a Facilities Utilization Study conducted in the district by an outside consulting agency with staff input indicated the Tonkin Center is only used 11 percent of the time. He reported that the study found that of all the school buildings in the state of Wyoming, it is the oldest or second oldest in the state and is among the top 15 buildings in the state “in the worst shape.” He said to bring the building up to an “acceptable” condition would involve an expenditure of $6.7 million dollars.
Snyder said his concern was that the district would not have enough major maintenance funds to meet the district’s need going into the future. “We are looking 20-25 years down the road and trying to determine if we can maintain our buildings for that long,” he told the board. “We have to maintain our “new” 37-38 year-old high school building so we can get it to 75-80 years of life.”
To reach that goal, Snyder laid out several options for the board to review. “We want to have a partnership with the state on savings we can find,” he said. “We want the school district to help save money over the long-term. It will be an adjustment on our part, but we want to be part of that thinking down the road.”
One way or another, with either remodeling or demolition, new homes must be found for the current tenants of the TAC. He outlined two plans, one that would save the district and state $623.626 with cost savings of $4,722,655, #1, and the other that would be more expensive, #2, with savings only $4,099.029. (see charts below).
#1 – (most cost effective remedy)
• Move the Frontier Academy to the current Maintenance Facility on North 5th West after remodeling.
• Move the District’s Facilities Department and the Dance/Cheer activities to the James H. Moore Career Center.
• Move storage and the Wyoming Department of Education Special Projects Units to Rendezvous Elementary.
• For the Wrestling program, construct a new facility attached to the current RHS Gymnasium and wrestling area.
• FCBOCES would be relocated to the Aspen Learning Center
• The Day Reporting Students would be relocated to a Fremont County facility.
#2 – (most expensive remedy)
• Move the Frontier Academy to the current Maintenance Facility on North 5th West after remodeling.
• Move the District’s Facilities Department and the Dance/Cheer activities to the James H. Moore Career Center.
• Move the wrestling program, district storage and the Wyoming Department of Education Special Projects Units to Rendezvous Elementary.
• FCBOCES would be relocated to the Aspen Learning Center
• The Day Reporting Students would be relocated to a Fremont County facility.
He also shared the current timeline on the decision making progress regarding the Tonkin Activities Center:
