By Carleen Wild
Moody County Enterprise

What the Colman-Egan School District might do with an additional $2 million in leftover bond funds from the current school expansion remains uncertain.
As the district considers a potential new athletic complex for its growing student body, questions have been raised about whether the excess funds can be used for projects beyond the scope of the school addition or if they should be returned to voters.
“No decision has been made on building a (athletic) complex nor can we make that decision until more information is gained, so yes, it is in the early investigation phase,” said Superintendent Scott Hemmer.
“Because no decision has been made…no decision has been made on what funds would be used for it or how we would finance the project.”
The school board recently formed a committee to explore what a new athletic facility might include.
Currently, the district has a modest football field north of the school but no track for its highly successful track and football programs. As the track team continues to shatter records, training largely on city streets each spring, the football team has brought home three state championships since 2016 despite being one of the few teams in the state to still play on an 80-yard field.

Many residents support improved athletic facilities, citing the community’s growth and the continued success of school sports programs.
“We had 73% of our constituents who put a track and football field complex at high to medium need for the school district,” Board President Kirsten Taggart told the Moody County Enterprise, of a survey on the issue in 2023.
Still, the only referendum presented to voters that year was for $6.3 million school addition.
“The reason we chose to go with the 6.3 million bond was in the survey we had received 59% support for a 7.2 million dollar bond that would have had us go forward with the addition and a track and field complex at that time, we would have had to use capital outlay certificates to cover the rest of the total cost in this scenario. We did not want to risk it being voted down and not being able to start on a classroom addition, which we had recognized as our most immediate need,” said Hemmer.
He added that at the time, the district was led to believe that the addition and the complex would cost approximately 10 million dollars total, and that price tag was going to be tough to hit no matter what combination of bond and capital outlay certificates were used.
Lora Zwart, of rural Colman, is among those expressing concern over unused bond funds being put toward anything other than the school addition.
“If you had to be so specific in the bond ballot verbiage to say ‘furnishing and equipping the same’, then how is it that you can spend 2 million on a sports complex that isn’t mentioned?” Zwart said.
“We didn’t vote for a sports complex. I will never approve another bond ask ever again, given they are going to operate in this back door manner.”
CE Schools retained DA Davidson Financial this fall to provide cost projections and evaluate funding options. Knowing the current expansion project was coming in well under the expected $6.3 million, the board also approved hiring ISG to develop a conceptual plan and investigate two potential locations for the complex.
The goal, according to Hemmer, is to obtain a base map of the areas with “recommendations on the pros and cons of each location in regards to projected site prep costs, proximity to existing utilities, potential expansion at each location, transportation access, zoning classifications, base maps for each site, and site selection summary from them.”
Other complexes in the area are also being reviewed to develop a wishlist for a potential Hawks complex. The recommendations would be given to a design company to help project feasibility and assist with the overall design of the complex, should the district decide to move forward.
“As far as the question on the leftover bond money and how it is used, my business manager and myself reached out to DA Davidson the day after the bid opening to discuss what options we had, since we were going to have leftover funds,” said Hemmer.
“They let us know that we could use the money to set up an escrow account to put towards paying off the bond early or use the funds for capital outlay projects for the district.”
As of right now, he emphasized, no decision has been made as to how to use any additional bond funds. “We are currently exploring all options and the board and administration is committed to doing what is best for our rapidly growing district.”