BREAKING GROUND ON $3.7 MILLION ADDITION: Gainesville School begins construction on new large, front addition funded by grants and interest-free loan


Gainesville School Board members, current superintendent Justin Gilmore and former superintendent Jeff Hyatt put shovels to dirt Friday in a groundbreaking that marked the launch of construction on the school’s $3.7 million addition. From left: Hyatt, board members Mason Eslinger, Robby Walrath, Jerry Kiger and Corey Hillhouse, Gilmore, board members Heather Bushner, board vice president Jabet Wade and board president Marti Warden.

Gainesville School held a groundbreaking ceremony Friday for its new $3.7 million addition, which includes $2 million in FEMA funding for a storm shelter and a $1 million interest-free loan offered by White River Valley Electric Cooperative through a Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program. Pictured, front row, from left, are junior high and high school assistant principal Trevor Hicks; elementary school principal Erin Swofford; junior high and high school principal Clint Hall; Gainesville School Board member Mason Eslinger; Community Foundation of the Ozarks Central Region manager Joe Kammerer; Gainesville School Board members Robby Walrath, Jerry Kiger, Corey Hillhouse, Heather Bushner, vice president Jabet Wade and president Marti Warden; superintendent Justin Gilmore; 33rd Missouri District Sen. Karla Eslinger; 155th District State Rep. Travis Smith; White River Valley Electric Cooperative key account and economic development specialist Devin Sonnenfelt; WRVEC CEO Chris Hamon; WRVEC Board member and former Gainesville superintendent Dr. Jeff Hyatt; WRVEC manager of communications and member engagement Cassie Cunningham; WRVEC Board member Jim Kyle; U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt field staff member Will Wheeler; SCOCOG representative Jessica Paulk; and architect with Sapp & Associates Pam Haldiman.

A coordinated team of partners Gilmore and other speakers addressed the crowd during Friday’s groundbreaking, discussing the $2 million FEMA shelter grant, the $1 million WRVEC Rural Economic Development Loan funding and the partnership with several agencies that made it a reality. Pictured to the right of Gilmore are 33rd Missouri District Sen. Karla Eslinger and the current Gainesville Board of Education members. To the left of Gilmore are representatives from WRVEC and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.

Fifteen golden shovels hit the dirt Friday, Oct. 22, in front of Gainesville High School, signaling the official groundbreaking for Gainesville’s new $3.7 million, 8,000-square-foot addition. 

The new structure, which will sit directly in the center  front of the current building, will include a new facade, locker rooms, offices, a storage room and multi-use common area. It will also serve as a school and community storm shelter able to withstand 250-mph winds. As required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the source of some of funding for the building, the storm shelter will be open for students and staff during the school day as well as for nearby residents anytime a tornado warning is issued – even outside school hours. 

Gainesville superintendent Justin Gilmore said last week that construction has begun and will continue through this school year. 

He hopes the work can be finalized before the start of the 2022-23 school year. 

The groundbreaking included a program in the newly renovated Gainesville High School gym, where Gilmore, White River Valley Electric Cooperative economic specialist Devin Sonnenfelt and Missouri 33rd District Sen. Karla Eslinger addressed the audience. 

 

FEMA grant award and additional plans

Gilmore said that former Gainesville Superintendent Jeff Hyatt, who also attended the ceremony, originally “got the ball rolling” for the FEMA shelter grant in 2017, and after his retirement, Gilmore and the current school board took the reins and carried it through. The South Central Ozark Council of Governments (SCOCOG) also became involved early on and was instrumental in the intense and time-consuming grant-writing process.

The district was notified in October 2020 that it had received the grant, which includes a total of $2,046,816 in FEMA funding to build the storm shelter onto the front of the school. To complete the project, the school is required to pay a $227,424 match.

“Here’s where some people get confused. That money can only be used for FEMA-eligible costs,” Gilmore told the Times shortly after the announcement about both the more than $2 million from FEMA and the $227,424 from the Gainesville School District. The FEMA grant specifies what its funds can pay for, Gilmore said. “It means that [with the grant money and matching funds] we can pay for the basic concrete, pre-cast block structure. We can pay for a set number of toilets. We can pay for a set number of lights. We can pay for heating. But those funds can’t be used for air conditioning. There are a lot of things those funds can’t pay for. They can’t be used for anything above a basic concrete floor. They can’t be used for any interior framing or anything to be finished. Those funds can only pay for the basic concrete block structure that creates the tornado shelter,” he said.

While some schools do leave their FEMA tornado shelters at that very basic level, Gilmore said the Gainesville School District plans to add a little more than $1 million in improvements on top of its $227,424 match to finish out the structure. Those funds will be used to pay for the things that are not eligible for FEMA funding but will make the space a more functional addition to the current building.

“If we only used the FEMA grant money, we’d have a big concrete, basic block structure, but that’s never been the plan for us. This [addition] is going to be used in so many different ways,” he said. “But we have to put a little more into it in order to make that happen.”

 

WRVEC grant offer $1 million  interest-free loan to Gainesville School District

“The district soon realized that an additional source of funding would be necessary to move forward with the project and finish it in a way that would make our district and our community proud,”Gilmore said during the groundbreaking program. “Enter White River Valley Electric Cooperative. Our local co-op has been a partner of the school district for past projects, so when the need arose for a USDA Rural Development loan, I reached out to them.”

Gilmore said that WRVEC applied for the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program that would allow the co-op to offer a $1 million interest-free loan to the Gainesville School District for the remaining costs involved with building and finishing out the addition. WRVEC was the only cooperative in Missouri and one of only 14 in the country chosen for the grant. 

“The Gainesville School District and community are very fortunate to have such a supportive, competent and caring cooperative to support and invest in our local economy,” Gilmore said. “On behalf of the district, I’d like to thank White River Valley Electric Cooperative for its continued support of Gainesville schools.”

Gilmore then handed the microphone to WRVEC’s Sonnenfelt, who told the audience, “It’s an honor to be here and support this project . . . that has resulted in the vibrant community effort that’s required the coordination of many partners – partners that are here today to take part in that celebration.”

Sonnenfelt extended a special thanks to the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, which also worked as a partner in allowing WRVEC to offer the loan to the Gainesville School District.

“Today’s project is also the fruit of a second partnership; that’s the partnership of the community and the district. As many of you know, the families in the community support the district by residing here, by working and by sending your children to school here. As your power provider, we take that seriously. Moving this safe room project forward is a major step in honoring the community, past, present and future within the district,” Sonnenfelt said. 

 

 

‘Nothing you do for children is ever wasted’

State Sen. Karla Eslinger, a Gainesville High School graduate, spoke next. 

“I’ve been working all across the nation, all across the state, and I can tell you there’s absolutely nothing like coming home to Gainesville, Missouri,” Eslinger said. “When I think about what we’ve done here as a community, and I see our commissioners here, I see our law enforcement here, so many of the staff members here. It’s just a testament to what you can do when you decide that this is an important moment and something good to do. There’s no stopping rural communities today because of these types of cooperatives, and for me, this project is spot on. I thank all of you for your input, for your support.”

Eslinger said she has a sign that sits on her desk with a quote from Garrison Keillor that says, “Nothing you do for children is ever wasted.”

 “This project is a testament to that,” Eslinger said toward the end of her speech. 

Gilmore closed the program by thanking Eslinger, State Rep. Travis Smith, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt and Congressman Jason Smith, who all wrote letters in support or actively advocated for the project. He also thanked BranCo Enterprises, the general contractor for the project, and again thanked USDA and WRVEC for the interest-free $1 million loan, FEMA and SEMA for the storm shelter grant funding, and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.

“Most importantly, I want to thank the board of education, who had the vision for the FEMA project and gymnasium [renovation] and have been persistent to make sure this all got done,” Gilmore said. 

Ozark County Times

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