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BELLEFONTE -- The Bellefonte Area School Board has approved a Resolution authorizing a public hearing in accordance and in compliance with the requirements of Act 34 and the School Code.
The meeting will take place at the Bellefonte Area Middle School, 100 N. School St., Bellefonte, PA, on Thursday, Dec. 7, beginning at 6 p.m.
School Code requires the district to advertise a notice of this public hearing at least 20 days prior, and make information available to people in the audience at the hearing. Certain financial information is to be made available for inspection by interested citizens during the advertisement period.
Mike Kelly from KCBA was in attendance to answer any questions the board may have about the meeting, and to walk everyone through what it will look like.
"The idea (of Act 34) is that at least once you need to come and have a hearing with the public to present the school, talk about why it's being built, what options were considered other than the option you're choosing and certainly the financial impacts on taxpayers and the district," said Kelly.
The Bellefonte Area School District authorizes a maximum project cost of $56,796,299 and maximum building construction cost of $40,853,396 for the project.
Kelly commented that he and Damion Spahr, of SiteLogIQ, have been presenting the information to the board during every meeting for quite some time now.
"We still need to go through (this) process. (This) is a legal proceeding... It's run kind of like a courtroom that day. It is not necessarily a conversation of questions and answers, it's just for comments," said Kelly.
By passing this resolution, the school board has also authorized the use of a court stenographer to transcribe the Act 34 hearing.
Kelly also noted this hearing will not be a board meeting, though board members were welcome to attend.
The public is able to submit written comments ahead of the hearing if they're unable to make it to the meeting in person. Immediately following the proceedings there will be a 30 day period where additional written comment can be made to the board.
After the 30 days are over, those involved will be able to take all of the comments into consideration and proceed into the final phase of the project. The plan is to bid the project early next year, and at this time they are on schedule.
The Bellefonte Area School District Board of Directors will meet again on Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. at the Bellefonte Area Middle School.