Bid awarded for timber on school owned property
A Grayling firm was awarded the bid to purchase timber from property owned by the Onaway Area Community Schools. Members of the Board of Education unanimously supported the recommendation of superintendent Bob Szymoniak at Monday?s first regular meeting of 2007.
Six companies bid the project, including producers from Onaway and Rogers City. The winning bidder was Weyerhaeuser.
Early in December, the school?s forester, Keith Martell, let out bids for the cutting and sale of timber from the district?s Black River Avenue, Tower Pond, and Millersburg properties. Combined, the properties equal about 100 acres.
Martell anticipates that the school will make $200 to $400 per acre off the sale. That could bring anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 to the school coffers. Szymoniak said $20,000 had been put in the budget, but the price could go higher with valuable red pine on the property.
The morning of January 3, Martell and Szymoniak reviewed the proposals.
?MR. MARTELL also likes to check references before he allows a producer on a property,? said Szymoniak, ?but in this case, (Martell) has extensive experience with Weyerhaeuser and knows them to have a high reputation.?
In 2004, Weyerhaeuser earned a Clean Corporate Citizen award from the Department of Environmental Quality for their approach to sustainable forestry.
Martell plans for the production to be done by January 1, 2008, but will not allow cutting to occur from April to August of this year.
Once this is done, Martell will have a management plan for the school board, which will include a schedule for plantings on various properties.
IN OTHER business:
? Board members were showered with gifts from K-12 students in celebration of school board appreciation month. The students brought in posters and artwork, as well as snacks. Bridget Bednark represented the National Honor Society and read the board a poem. NHS also gave board members gift certificates.
? Fifth grade teacher Penny James announced that a leadership conference would be conducted in Onaway February 1 with a special keynote speaker.
Keith Nord, who played seven years for the Minnesota Vikings in the early 1980s, will be talking to students about developing character.
Nord played college football at St. Cloud State University and signed with the Vikings in 1979 as a free agent. An Achilles tendon injury ended his playing career after the 1986 season. James is in the process of inviting other area schools to the event.
? Student Sarah Prall updated board members on an upcoming concert at the school, which is being planned for the Onaway Cafetorium February 23 at 6 p.m. There are one to three bands, and maybe more, that will perform.
She has been coordinating the concert with the superintendent. Prall said there would be a variety of music and ?clean lyrics.? ?If there are not, I will pull the plug,? said Szymoniak of the concert lyrics. Proceeds will go to the ongoing playground project at Chandler Park.
? Szymoniak will be sitting down with students today (Friday) to seek their input on next year?s schedulin
? The Snowcoming Dance will be conducted at St. Paul Hall February 16. Unlike past years, the dance will be on Saturday, not Friday at the school after the basketball game. Organizers tried to conduct the dance at the school on Saturday, but there was an event already taking place.
The change will allow the students more time to get ready and more time to dance to songs played by the DJ. After all the students arrived and had their pictures taken with family and friends there was only 45 minutes with the DJ.
James worked with the DJ on the scheduling to allow more time. Organizers will look at moving the dance back to the school next year.