By Tom Mark

Vernon School District Head Office Construction

May 28, 2018 | 6:21 AM

Construction of a new nine and a half million dollar Vernon School Board office should begin shortly.

MQN Architects handled the design and the school board approved the lowest bid of $7,219,367 by Sawchuk Developments.

School District Secretary-Treasurer Sterling Olson says the new building will go up on the same site as the current building.

“Out back of the existing building, there was a number of portables. So, those portables have been removed and new permanent space will be constructed. Once that’s constructed we’ll move people from the existing board office into the new one.”

The existing building will be renovated to include more meeting space.

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The old portables won’t be missed.

“People had to walk outside to go from meeting to meeting. So in the winter it wasn’t very pleasant having to, you know, actually, when you’re going to a meeting, having to walk outside the building across a parking lot through the snow to actually get to a building.”

Olson says the project will be paid for through various means.

“Some of it’s coming out of local capital. Over the years, the board has sold some properties, used the money from international program profits. That’s been moved into capital, so we’re utilizing that.”

Funding will also come from facilities grants over the next couple of years as well as from future property sales.

Construction should start soon with completion set for December 2019.

by Tom Mark