Superintendent: Project will go forward anyway

Even though its permanent improvement levy failed, Collins Career Center still plans to move forward with its construction project plans, Superintendent Steve Dodgion said.

The levy was voted down 10,061 to 7,007.

“I’m disappointed, obviously,” Dodgion said. “And you know, we’ll have to regroup and decide how to react to this. The construction project will go forward. We’ll probably have to decide exactly how we’re going to react. We may have another shot at that.

“I anticipate that it will go forward regardless at this point.”

The center is planning a $22 million renovation project of which 75 percent of which will be paid by the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission. The levy would have helped the center pay for the other 25 percent. The project is an 11,000 square-foot addition to its Getaway location.

The half-mil levy had been on the books for 15 years until it came off in 2009.

The Career Center tried to get it back on during the May primary, but it was decertified due to a clerical error.