MRH Construction Advances; Sale Yields $950K Savings

While rain last week slowed some of the construction happening in the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District, projects are moving forward.

A lot of work is happening on the courtyard, project manager Dave Schlueter told the MRH Board of Education during its Thursday meeting. Workers also will add a retaining wall at the school, and they will lay down rock on the once the area becomes dry.

Later, a section of Lohmeyer Avenue will be removed and later paved along with the lot. Concrete paving is expected to begin before the board's October meeting, Schlueter said.

"It's like a jigsaw puzzle," Dr. Linda Henke, the district's superintendent, told the board.

While the work is happening near the entrance to the school's library, those doors will remain accessible over the next week to homecoming visitors and others.

Landscaping at the outskirts of the parking lot also will happen before too long, Schlueter said. Some of the money in a contingency fund will be used to provide irrigation for those plants.

The contingency fund also is being used to install new concrete steps outside of the school's theater. Those will be finished before homecoming, he said.

School board secretary Brooke Rintoul said she and other neighbors want to ensure that an old tree near the building is kept alive.

Contractors have been good about staying away from the tree, Schlueter said. He said he's confident that the project will still get done within budget and on schedule.

In other construction activity, structural steel is being installed at the .

Sale Saves Nearly $1 Million

The MRH School District achieved savings of nearly $1 million by selling millions of dollars in general obligation refunding bonds two weeks early, a Stifel Nicolaus official told the board.

The district sold approximately $7 million worth of bonds as part of the bond refunding sale held last Thursday, Lorenzo Boyd told the group. It will save more than $950,000 over the lifetime of the bonds—approximately $73,000 yearly through 2024. The sale happened earlier than planned because of favorable market conditions.

Additionally, Standard & Poor's has affirmed the district's AA- rating, Boyd said.

The sale basically refinances the district's bonds, district communications director Tom Wickersham said.

The board authorized Boyd to close the sale.