Elementary school roofing project approved

CLINTONVILLE – The Clintonville Board of Education approved a base bid of $324,984 from Walsdorf Roofing Company for a roofing project for Clintonville Elementary School.
The approval, by a 4-2 vote, came at the board’s March 23 meeting. Board President Glen Drew Lundt and board member Christopher Hoffmann voted against the approval. Board Vice President Kris Strauman was absent from the meeting.
The roofing project will be included in the district’s 2026-27 budget.
The district received four bids for the roofing project. The low bid was $324,984 and the high bid was $397,470.
Stephen Reinke, director of Buildings and Grounds for the Clintonville School District, told the board that there are no visible leaks in the roof, but there are a couple of spots where thermal imaging has indicated leaks in the roof.

Four sections of the elementary school roof would be fixed or rebuilt. The sections that would be fixed would have a 10-year warranty, while the sections that would be rebuilt would have a 30-year warranty, Reinke said.
Lundt said he was “shocked” that the board was discussing a roofing project for the elementary school.
“We just remodeled the whole elementary school and now we need a roof, is the perception,” Lundt said. “…Why did we need to fix the roofs now, when we just put a bunch of money into that.”
Reinke said some sections of the elementary school roof were fixed or replaced in the past, and referendum funds were used to completely redo the middle and high school roofs.
“Which is a 20-year roof system, and we’re already five years into that,” Reinke said.
Board member Christopher Hoffmann asked Reinke when the issues with the elementary school roof were brought to the district’s attention.
Reinke said coring of the roof sections was done in August or September.
“I would have felt a lot better at the annual meeting or putting the budget cycle together it was made known, hey, we have a problem coming up,” Hoffmann said.
He added that bringing a roofing project of $300,000 to the board for approval at the board meeting prior to the operational referendum vote is “compounding an issue.”
“I wish that I would have not been blindsided six months after this was found out,” Hoffmann said.
Reinke said the timing of the request has nothing to do with the proposed operational referendum.
“My job is to be a preventive person, alright,” Reinke said. “Referendum or no referendum, roof systems, heating systems, they don’t care. I’m just pushing forward that this is part of the preventive side of things.”
Board member Ben Huber asked if the elementary school roof project was part of the district’s long-term maintenance plan.
Reinke said that it is in the long-term maintenance plan.
Lundt asked Reinke how long he would be comfortable to leave the elementary school roof before fixing or rebuilding the sections that need maintenance.
Reinke said the district could wait around a year, but there is no guarantee leaks won’t develop during that time.
Board Clerk Klint Barkow said that if the district waits, the cost of the repairs will increase.
After a motion was made and seconded to accept a roofing bid, Hoffmann said the elementary school roofing project would have been a good discussion point for the operational referendum the district is asking its residents to approve.
“We are telling the community we need money, we need to set up a maintenance account, we have all these coming, and if I spend that money before the referendum, what is the public opinion going to be then?” Hoffmann asked.