The Greene County School Board recently selected an architect firm to work with the district ahead of a possible bond referendum on April 3rd.

It was a unanimous decision by the Board to hire OPN Architects. Their main office is in Des Moines, but they have three additional locations with 113 employees. While their bond referendum success rate, at 73-percent, was among the lowest of the five architect firms that made formal presentations, one of the main reasons why the Board chose OPN was because of two local ties with David Tilley and Rick McCollum.

The school district, in conjunction with community members, is looking to build a new high school and attach a regional academy that would be operated by Iowa Central Community College. Superintendent Tim Christensen says while nothing has been developed yet, the architect firm is expected to help every step of the way.

“The things that we’re really looking for is ‘A’: involvement in community meetings to get that feedback, so the design can be what the community wants. And then another big part of it is helping the group sell that to the community in terms of ‘Here’s our plan and now we want you to support it.’ So they’ll be involved between now and a potential referendum in April.”

The initial cost for pre-bond work by OPN is $71,000, which Christensen says will come from the physical plant and equipment levy and Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) funds.