Reinbeck resident Herk Schmidt, right, addresses the audience on Wednesday, Feb. 26, during a ‘Vote No’ meeting held at the Gladbrook City Centre ahead of Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s special school election set for Tuesday, March 4. Schmidt is a member of G-R’s community task force which finalized a 10-year long-term facility plan last summer. Also pictured, meeting organizer and Gladbrook resident Keith Sash. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

GLADBROOK – Roughly 40 people showed up at the Gladbrook City Centre on Wednesday evening for a community meeting organized by Keith Sash ahead of the upcoming voted Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) special school election.

“I really appreciate the crowd we got here tonight. This is probably 10 times as many as I’ve seen in the last three meetings on this [election] combined that we weren’t sponsors. I really appreciate that,” Sash, a farmer and former Gladbrook/G-R school board member/mayor/county supervisor, said in an apparent reference to recent informational meetings sponsored by the school district.

A flyer paid for by Citizens Against High Taxation – a local ballot issue campaign committee Sash chaired leading up to the failed 2022 G-R bond referendum – that was posted in advance of the meeting urged citizens to “Vote No” on the March 4 public measure proposing an increase to the district’s current voted PPEL from 67 cents per $1,000 of assessed property tax valuation to $1.34.

The current voted PPEL was last renewed in 2022 by nearly 60% of G-R voters; however, while roughly 97% of Reinbeck voters approved the renewal, some 89% of Gladbrook voters did not. As in 2022, the upcoming March 4 public measure requires a simple majority (50%+1) to pass; if passed, it would be in effect for a period of nine years.

During his introduction, Sash characterized the meeting as “wide open” and encouraged folks to ask questions that either he or “a couple authorities in the room” would try to answer.

Former Gladbrook-Reinbeck school board member Susie Petersen, center back, speaks during the Feb. 26 ‘Vote No’ meeting held at the Gladbrook City Centre. Petersen, who lives between Gladbrook and Reinbeck, spent considerable time trying to quell concerns brought forth during the meeting. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“They’re saying this is not a new tax. … I say it is. The 67 cents that we had in effect – since Gladbrook [Community School District] had it in effect – 67 cents is the old tax. When you’re doubling that … this next 67 cents is a new tax. … (When) it’s more money out of my billfold, I say, that’s new money,” Sash explained before later adding that if the increase to the voted PPEL were to pass, it would cost him “about a buck and a quarter a taxable acre on the ag land.”

“Not a big kick. It’s not a big kick. I don’t mean it that way. It’s just another tax when you’re paying quite a bit of property taxes [already],” he said.

Following his introduction, Reinbeck resident Herk Schmidt took the floor and discussed his experiences as a member of G-R’s community task force which finalized a three-phase, 10-year facility plan with the school board last summer. Phase I includes using SAVE (sales tax) funds totaling roughly $8.5 million to update and expand the elementary school which is already underway. Phase II – which has yet to be implemented – involves building a new middle/high school addition to replace the existing 1921 secondary building. A bond referendum to fund Phase II failed last fall.

As part of Phase III, the 1921 building would be razed.

Many of Schmidt’s comments centered around what he characterized as “known problems” at the secondary building he believes should have been addressed with cash on hand and/or Phase I SAVE proceeds – rather than solely utilizing those funds at the elementary.

A resident of Union Grove Lake, right, asks a question of meeting organizer Keith Sash (off frame) on Wednesday evening in Gladbrook. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“They’ve committed that money to that project; now (they say) we’re broke,” Schmidt said. “That’s not entirely true, they knew that we needed the money committed to the repair issues at an earlier date. They chose to back us into this corner. This was not by accident or by oversight or omission, this was, ‘Ok, now we got a problem. Oh my gosh, we need more tax money to solve it.’ That’s my problem. The process of how we got here – I’m not saying we don’t need to fix problems – it’s just that we were intentionally pushed into a corner. Alright? That’s a problem.”

Schmidt also said that if all three phases of the $42 million long-term facility plan are implemented, such costs would total “$94,000 per chair” based on current certified enrollment.

“If the school was getting bigger – if we had an extra 20-30 kids coming in year after year, I wouldn’t be standing up here saying this. I’d be saying, we need to build a school. But that’s not the case. … Our student numbers have been stable from [2015] to the current date,” he said.

Later discussion topics included the amount of money G-R pays out annually for students who open enroll to other districts, the current surplus in the district’s Nutrition Fund, the district’s unspent authorized budget balance, and the deterioration at the secondary building.

An audience member who introduced herself as a newer Union Grove Lake resident and retired educator, admitted she was struggling with the tone of the conversation.

“I have a hard time grasping – having spent my whole life in education – that we’re going to vote ‘no’ on a bond and now ‘no’ on a PPEL. What is our ultimate goal for the kids we’re trying to serve? Because those are the two sources of money that an education system has to make improvements … taking into account some possibly bad management – welcome to government – but what is our goal?” she asked.

The answer seemed to be better management of the district’s current funds and not raising taxes.

“I think there’s a lot of mismanagement in money up there,” Sash said, partly in response to her question. “I don’t think [an increase in PPEL] is necessary to correct some of the problems. [But] you gotta correct them. You can’t just stand back and let them swell and fester.”

“There is one hell of a problem of mismanagement up there,” a current member of G-R’s transportation department commented. “I’m so damn mad when I don’t see things getting done.”

Jeanne Paustian, a resident of Gladbrook whose husband Darrell worked for Gladbrook as a custodian before the school was closed and subsequently demolished, seemed to speak for many in the ‘Vote No’ contingent when she addressed the audience.

“It’s kind of hard for some of us taxpayers [to vote yes] when we have a hunk of kids [going] to North Tama now, some that are going to BCLUW, and a hunk going to GMG. … They want our money more than they need our kids and they’re getting an awful lot of money from [Gladbrook] taxpayers,” Paustian said.

Toward the end of the 90-minute meeting, former G-R school board member Susie Petersen, who was sitting in the audience near the front of the room, spoke at length on various topics.

Petersen, appointed to the school board in 2015 before declining to stand for reelection again in 2023, resides with her family between Gladbrook and Reinbeck and has sent five students to G-R.

“There’s not seven custodians on staff, right now there’s three,” she said in an attempt to clarify comments made earlier in the meeting. “I feel like the school board has tried to be very open, very fair. They give you information. [Superintendent] Caleb Bonjour comes down. We’ve had school board meetings in Gladbrook.”

Petersen later discussed the thousands of dollars the district has invested in Crayon Corner Learning Center, where a district preschool operates as part of the city-owned child care center.

“There’s been a lot of really good things that the G-R district has done that directly affects this community and the people in it. And you know, I probably do get a little fired up when it’s like, you’re throwing arrows, and, it’s like, ‘everything’s being mismanaged’ and ‘you’re not doing this right and you’re not doing that right’ because I do feel like the people who have been voted onto the board … I hope that you feel that you’re being fairly represented [by those people] and that they’ve got your interest at heart, too, because they’re living in the communities and serving you on the school board. It’s a thankless job. … You try so hard to do so many good things and you just keep getting your knees whacked out from under you.”

“That’s kind of how we feel,” Paustian quietly interjected, referring to past actions by the school board including closing the Gladbrook campus in 2015.

“No, I understand that. I do understand that,” Petersen responded before adding “We never stood in front of a group of community members and said ‘forget the past’ – absolutely don’t forget the past.”

“I personally would like to see the district stay together. I have a lot of friends in Gladbrook. I have a lot of friends in Reinbeck. … So I don’t have this deep-seated, bad feeling about people. I just don’t. But I do feel like the G-R district is doing the best with what it has – staying within state parameters (funding),” Petersen said.

During the final moments of the meeting, a gentleman spoke up in appreciation for the meeting organized by Sash.

“I appreciate the fact that we finally [are having a conversation],” he said.

In his closing comments, which were partly in response to an audience member’s mention of the recently passed 75 cents levy to fund emergency medical services (EMS) as essential in Tama County, Sash circled back to the increase in taxes facing G-R voters on the March 4 ballot.

“I’m afraid you ain’t seen taxes in Tama County yet,” Sash said before later adding, “But I think we’re going to get hammered.”