UPDATE, August 2018:

There have been recent developments! The proposed natatorium has been re-designed and the location moved to Firewheel Parkway.  We are excited that the process is once again moving forward. 

Please contact the trustees to express your support for the natatorium by sending an email to AllGISDBoardMembers@garlandisd.net.

Original petition:

In a shocking departure from the advice of the administration, project managers, and the bond implementation plan that has been in place for nearly two years, the GISD board of trustees voted 4-3 on Tuesday (9/13) to reject the re-negotiated bid for the natatorium (indoor competition/instructional swimming and diving pool) and move the project to Phase 4 of the bond schedule. What this means is that if the natatorium gets built at all, it cannot begin until 2019.  With a 15-month construction window, the soonest it could open its doors is 2020.

This vote critically endangers the future of the facility, is an unacceptable slap in the face to volunteers who campaigned for the bond on the promise of the natatorium, and displays utter contempt for voters who approved the bond package in 2014 with a commanding 60+% of the vote. Those voting to reject the bid and move the bond to Phase 4 were Trustees Linda Griffin, Larry Glick, Jed Reed, and Johnny Beach.  Trustees who voted to approve the bid and against the move to Phase 4 were Trustees Scott Luna, Rick Lambert, and Robert Selders.

Background: The natatorium’s original bid came in at over $30 million last May.  The board bristled at that amount, which was understandable given that the estimated construction cost communicated to voters during the election was a little over $20 million.  As the numbers were unpacked, what was discovered is at the time the estimates were being formed, there was some confusion over the costs and seating capacity between the two “comps” in our area – the Rockwall natatorium and the new pool in Lewisville (which is much bigger and, at the time, hadn’t even opened its doors yet).  

While any budget over-run is unfortunate, the upshot is that there is no conceivable way that a state-of-the-art facility big enough to house 7 high school teams and compete regionally for large swim meets can be built for $20 million.  Voters were clearly informed that the amounts communicated during the election were estimates that were subject to change.  The district can’t know what the bid will be before they get the bid, and they can’t spend money on architectural designs until the bond money is there.  It is a chicken-and-egg situation that, while frustrating, is a normal part of school bond spending.

In May, the board chose to send the bid back with the bond managers to re-negotiate the price with the bidders and to simplify the façade and roof design, in the hopes of reaping some savings without compromising on the technical specifications of the pool.  The lead bidder was dropped during negotiations, but another company submitted a bid for $27.5 million, and that is what was presented to the board on Tuesday night.  Everyone thought this would settle it, and that it would be approved. 

Cost escalations are built into every individual project in the bond.  Some items come in lower than expected, others come in higher (The Career/Tech center, for example, is also over budget, but construction on it has already begun. The Career/Tech and the natatorium were both classified as Phase 1 projects and were originally scheduled to begin at the same time.)  By law, the board cannot borrow more than the capped amount of $455.5 million, but the size of each “bucket” within that ocean will get bigger or smaller than the preliminary estimates, depending on how the bids come in.  The administration and the project managers have said from day one that there will be enough money to complete all the projects.  Bottom line: this is normal, they planned for this, and there is money to build the natatorium now.

Details released before Tuesday's vote show that by waiting until 2019 to begin construction, cost escalation could add a whopping $7 million to the price tag.  While cost escalation is not an exact science, common sense tells us that it certainly will not be cheaper three years from now.  By 2019, the same building could cost $35 million or even more, depending on the construction and building-supply economics in place at that time.  The point is this:  No one knows how much it will cost if we wait. We DO know how much it will cost if we build it now.  We do not fall for the "just wait a little longer" line.  If the will to build it didn't exist on Tuesday at a cost of $27.5 million, what chance is there that it will exist in 2019 for upwards of $35 million?

The other consideration, which received almost no discussion on Tuesday night, is the fact that the district has already spent about $1 million on the natatorium -- including architectural designs, site surveys, etc. We have had an aquatics director on staff since last year, whose job of building a top-notch swimming program cannot even really begin until the pool opens. If the board waits until the very end of the bond and skyrocketing construction costs price the natatorium out of existence, this already-spent taxpayer money will have been completely wasted.

In order to ensure that it actually gets built, we demand that the board of trustees return the natatorium to Phase 1, where it belongs, and approve the bid for $27.5 million.  This community has waited 40 years already for a facility that is commonplace throughout Texas.  It's time to build it NOW!

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