HERMANN — Voters in the Gasconade County R-1 School District will be asked to decide a $3.5-million bond issue in April, proposing to make upgrades to buildings and grounds.

In a brief special session last Tuesday afternoon, the R-1 Board of Directors agreed on a set of projects to be funded with the bond money. Those projects include a new roof for Hermann High School, installing new heating-and-cooling rooftop units at Hermann Elementary School and repairs to the parking lot at Hermann Middle School.

Two years ago the district asked voters for a $5-million bond issue for those and other capital improvement projects. The issue won majority support, but not by enough. The measure fell short of the four-sevenths majority required by state law by about 35 votes.

With a bonding capacity of $7 million, R-1 is asking for only half that amount with this bond issue. The high school roof is original to the building’s construction and was recoated a decade ago.

“The roof has reached pretty much the end of life,” said Superintendent Geoff Neill.

As for the HVAC units at Hermann Elementary School, the 11 rooftop units are old and district maintenance staff has had difficulty finding parts. The plan is to replace all the units, officials said.

The parking lot at the middle school has been patched and sealed in recent years but there remains below-surface issues which makes a major overhaul necessary.

“This project is substantial,” the superintendent said.

Earlier discussion of potential improvements included a remodeling of the oldest portion of Hermann Elementary School. But, as Neill pointed out to the board, with the level of state funding of public education uncertain, it would be wise to put this project on hold.

“It would be nice to do these things but…we don’t know what state funding is going to do,” he said.

District officials point out that the proposal is a no-tax-increase issue, which means the district’s debt service levy will not have to be increased to make the payments for the bonds. A rol call of the six of the board’s seven directors attending the special session showed unanimous support to place the issue on the ballot.

The R-1 bond issue will be one of many issues on the April ballot — in addition to a plethora of elected offices to be decided — as well as a countywide question regarding a state-passed property tax-relief measure. County Clerk Lesa Lietzow, Gasconade County’s chief elections officer, said Thursday morning that of the eight school districts that serve a portion of this county, six have issues on the April ballot, a level of school ballot issue activity that she said she has not seen during her long tenure as county clerk.