Havre High, Sunnyside plans to be ready by July

Havre School Superintendent Andy Carlson expects to ask the school board at its July meeting to schedule a referendum for this fall on construction proposals for Havre High School and Sunnyside Intermediate School.

Carlson told the board Tuesday night that he is working with architects to decide the costs and on final details of the plans.

Under the proposal:

• New locker rooms would replace the present 50-year-old facilities at the high school.

• Wrestling facilities and a weight room would be constructed, enabling the district to move out of its 2nd Street facilities.

• Major renovations would be made to Sunnyside's existing facilities. This would be paid for under a $2 million Montana Commerce Department grant.

• A new gymnasium would be added at Sunnyside.

Carlson mentioned another possibility at Tuesday’s meeting — a major addition to the seating capacity at Havre High School’s gymnasium to enable the district to host more events, including Class C and B basketball divisional championships.

To meet Montana High School Association standards, about 2,500 seats would have to be added, he said. That would be costly. He said he would ask architects to provide a rough estimate.

But Carlson said he decided to look into the proposal after several community residents proposed the idea to him.

There has long been an interest in having a facility that could house events such as divisional basketball games. Some proposals have suggested that a facility be built near the fairgrounds, but none of these have come to fruition.

Carlson said it is probably more likely that any such gymnasium expansion would come at a later date, but he wants to make sure that nothing done this time would preclude such an addition.

“I think there is support out there for this,” he said, but he wasn’t sure of the community’s ability to pay for it.

Another proposal might be to build a new gym altogether, but “that price tag would be in the eight digits,” he said.

Overall, he said, the project for locker room renovations and Sunnyside expansion has received widespread community support, though he’s aware that some people are worried about the cost.

”I know some people feel they can’t afford it,” he said.

“I haven’t had anyone tell me they think the condition of the high school locker room is OK,” he said. “It’s just a question of cost.

A home valued at $200,000 would see at tax increase of about $30, he said.