I don’t see this with the urgency I did in May.”

Chair Carrie Tate

Full videos of school board meetings are available online at Hastings Community Television’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@HastingsCommunityTV

The Wednesday Aug. 29, 2024 school board meeting addressed an issue all too familiar to the Hastings community: PFAS. While Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS has become a center of conversation in recent months for its effects on city water, those same effects on Hastings public schools and the students and staff who inhabit them have been less discussed.
At the meeting, Director of Facilities and Safety Scott Stockdale spoke about two radically different quotes received by the district in order to implement granular activated carbon filters in schools. The first quote was received from Wigen Water for $285,000, and the second was from Crystal Quest for $490,000. Neither of those quotes include an installation, with Stockdale unsure of exactly how much installation for either might cost. The district was unable to solicit a third bid.
Funds for the quotes as well as whatever the cost of installation would be, have not been set aside in this year’s budget. These measures would serve as a stopgap as the city works to construct three water treatment plants by 2029 in order to filter out PFAS from city water and thereby obey new federal guidelines for PFAS levels.
Notable in the conversation was the fact that several facilities including the high school have filters in its drinking water stations already via filtration systems in drinking fountains or water bottle filling stations. These existing filters mean that the drinking water in these facilities is already filtered for PFAS. Non-potable water like water used in science lab sinks is not filtered and would contain similar levels of PFAS as city water.
The board decided not to presently move forward with either of these bids with Chair Carrie Tate saying, “I don’t see this with the urgency I did in May,” after the discussion of existing filtration in some facilities.

Civic Arena Funds
At the Aug. 7 school board work session, City Administrator Dan Wietecha presented about the district paying for 30% of the costs for improvements to the Civic Arena. The letter provided by Wietecha, addressed to Superintendent Champa references the Joint Powers Agreement “under which a cost-share (typically set to a 30/70 split) would be considered on a case-by-case basis for capital projects of direct benefit for both parties.”
Construction on the Civic Arena began in 2023 and included converting the refrigeration system from R-22 Freon to an ammonia-based system as well as the replacement of the west rink roof and the addition of a 160kW solar array on the new roof.
District 200 already pays $85,000 annually for ice rental. According to Wietecha’s letter, the total expected cost of the civic arena project is $5,339,394. Thirty percent of that total is some $1.6 million able to be paid by the district “spread over 10 to 20 years with interest, similar to how construction of the east rink was financed in 1998,” says the letter.
School board discussion centered around the precedent set were the district to agree to pay for maintenance rather than the construction of new projects as well as the timing of the request as much of the work on the civic arena has already begun and in some cases, been finished.
“I feel like this should have been a conversation we had three to four years ago,” said Tate.
The board rejected the city’s request.

Vermillion Township Land
The school board also agreed to reallocate $85,000 and spend an additional $20,000 for a gravel parking lot and an interpretive sign on the 53.7 acres of land located on 180th Street East between Fischer and Goodwin avenues.
This property, owned by the district, “contains a wildlife habitat that includes an open water pond and wetland area. Many species of migrating birds can be found on the property,” according to the Applicant’s Narrative document provided at the meeting.
Previously, students were brought to the property for educational programs but due to lack of parking, would carpool together and park on the street. The addition of a small lot would allow buses to bring students to the property and not have to park on the street to do so.
Full videos of school board meetings are available online at Hastings Community Television’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@HastingsCommunityTV