Moose Lake school bond fails

n the Moose Lake School District, more than 61 percent of voters said “no” to athletic facility improvements at the PreK-12 school.

After the voting polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 14 and the ballots were tallied, the final count was 610 “no” votes to 382 “yes” on Question 1 of the Moose Lake school bond referendum. Absentee ballots turned in by early voters came in at 38 “no” and 21 “yes,” bringing the total to 648 “no” and 403 “yes” votes.

Question 1 proposed a bond referendum of $3.935 million for additions to Moose Lake School athletic facilities including event parking, completion of the track/football field area, facilities, lighting, and more. Question 1 was required to pass in order for Question 2, requesting $2.7 million, to pass.

Election officials stated there are 2,856 registered voters within the school district. Of that, nearly 37 percent voted in this special election.

Three ballots were considered spoiled because Question 2 was marked but with Question 1 unmarked.

The same state aid of 60 percent of costs provided for the 2014 referendum was available for the referendum.

Board chair Steve Blondo and superintendent Bob Indihar were present during the counting of the votes.

“The people have spoken,” said Indihar when asked for a comment after the final vote had been tallied. “Let’s move on from here.”

As for where that may be, Indihar stated, “We’ll try to get some of the things done on our own. Yeah, we’ll just try to piecemeal it.”

In other referendum news, Virginia and Eveleth-Gilbert voters passed a referendum to build a new collaborative career academy high school along with two new elementary schools. Residents will have to pay for only about 20 percent of the $181 million in costs, because the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board and the state are funding approximately 81 percent.