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New bus barn now in use at Osage
by Warren Haacke, Press-News Reporter
In addition to a new weight room, the Osage School District is the beneficiary of two other new facility additions in an joint agreement reached with the Cedar River Complex undertaking. One of those additions, the new bus barn is now in use by the school district.
The school district and the Cedar River Complex Assocation, along with the Mitchell County Agricultural Society, Osage Education Foundation, City of Osage and Osage Municipal Utilities put together a plan that created facilities that mutually benefited all involved parties.
The school district gained a new weight room, a new bus barn and a new parking lot. The parking lot will be shared jointly with the other groups. The new parking lot, with its larger capacity, will accommodate the opportunities available at the new recreation facility, fairgrounds and school.
The new school bus barn and shop will have approximately 21,000 square feet for bus and equipment storage, office, and shop space.
"The new facility will meet the size requirements of the current buses for storage and service work," said Superintendent Steve Williams. "The shop will have one additional work bay more storage space and an enclosed wash bay. The existing bus shop in the parking lot will become custodial storage as the storage available for storage in the old bus barn is no longer available."
Bobby Meyer, Osage Schools Transportation Director, had some comments regarding the new facility.
"When it's finally completed, this will be a top-notch facility," said Meyer. "We have room for 15 buses, 4-6 vans or cars, a few lawnmowers and some other equipment and we still have a little left over room. It's kind of like night and day compared to the old facility."
Meyer continued, "The school district has about 28 different school vehicles when you count lawnmowers, skid loaders, tractors and the busses, cars and vans. We can't get them all in the new building. Some still sit outside at Lincoln and Washington."
According to Meyer, the new bus barn is still about 30 days away from total completion. Work is still progressing inside the structure in the two-bay shop area, tool rooms, a wash stall, an oil storage room, a parts storage room and a new office area/lounge area.
"When it's totally done, it's going to give us a lot more room and allow us the capability to do some things more efficiently as far as servicing our vehicles," said Meyer.
Contractors involved in the construction of the bus barn were Kramer-Peterson of Mason City, building structure, Machin &Wild Electric, Adams Plumbing and Heating, Wagner Construction, concrete work and Advanced Doors, Forest City.
Superintendent Williams continued, "The parking lot was an old asphalt surface that was in dire need of repair. The new concrete lot will provide an immediate upgrade and will last for many more years with minimal upkeep."
Mayor Steve Cooper had the following comments about the joint effort of the school and the Cedar River officials. "The school was involved from the beginning of the planning for the Cedar River Complex. Their input was critical, especially because of the parking lot facility that would be shared by the Cedar River Complex and the school. As the talks went on, the school then decided to take some donations that had been made from the Osage Education Foundation for an auditorium and money that also had been donated by the Booster Club for a new weight room and make those facilities along with a new bus barn as part of the project."
The school district contributed around $1,000,000 to the overall plan.
"The new concrete parking lot has room for 364 spaces," said Cooper. "That definitely benefits the school and the Recreation Center. The Recreation Center will also have a parking lot with an additional 57 spaces, plus bus unloading area."
Story created Jan 06, 2009 - 11:14:38 CST.
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