Kingfisher Public Schools continued its “unwinding” process this month in regards to the major renovation project that’s been halted at Gilmour Elementary School.

The board of education on Monday heard from Jon Wells, a project manager for Joe D. Hall Construction, which is the construction manager for the project.

Wells has been working with Kingfisher Superintendent Andy Evans in helping the district go through the proper channels in dealing with labor and materials from subcontractors.

“So the way this all came about was Andy and I started talking about what Gilmour would look like to start shutting that (renovation) down,” Wells told board members.

“And so, really, this is new to all of us, right? And we’re sensitive to what’s occurred and we’re very grateful for how we deal with the building up to this point and the plan that’s been laid.”

The KPS board voted in March 2023 to approve bids totaling $6.2 million to completely renovate the school building.

The district wasn’t seeking a bond issue, but rather paying for the project from its general and building funds.

It was designed to be a four-phase project that would begin as soon as school let out in May of that year.

On top of refreshing and updating the cosmetics of the older structure, the changes were to include:

• More user friendly utilities

• More electrical outlets in classrooms

• More storage

• Restructuring of some of the classrooms

• The addition of a fire sprinkler system

• Resurfacing of the gym floor

• Construction of a new library/media/technology center as well as a new motor lab.

At the time the bids were approved, the district was flush with funds.

At the end of February 2023, the district had $11.89 million in the general fund and another $2.25 million in the building fund.

The district also received $530,000 in ad valorem revenue in February 2023.

The district planned to pay for the project over multiple fiscal years to help spread the budget hit.

However, the district’s financial situation began to worsen.

On top of ad valorem revenues dropping, the district’s budget increased, then took another hit when it agreed to a $5 million settlement in a civil lawsuit.

Of that, $1.25 million came out of the general fund in early 2024.

When Evans took over as interim superintendent in October 2024, he was instantly faced with multiple budget issues and has been working to remedy those for the entirety of his tenure.

Stalling the Gilmour project, a process that had already begun for Evans’ tenure, was part of the fallout.

Of the original $6.2 million in bids, there’s still about $1.5 million of the project remaining.

Part of the process is the district agreeing to take possession of the materials that subcontractors had purchased to complete their portions of the project.

Most of those materials have already been paid for by the district, though some still need to be purchased from the subcontractors.

That action wasn’t taken Monday as Evans told the board he’d likely present a detailed list of necessary moves at the December meeting.

Evans said the district is continuing to “unwind the bonding mechanisms for the subs on this project, which will allow them to move on to other jobs.”

The materials the district will take possession of are wide ranging from doors to frames to tile to carpet.

Some can be stored in large storage containers while other items will need to be kept in climate-controlled surroundings.

“We are working on where to store the items to protect them from being damaged,” Evans said.

Evans said the district will first pay for the remainder of the settlement and pay off the artificial turf for the football/soccer and softball fields before restarting the Gilmour project.

He said that could be another two-plus years.

“We will have to have a new bidding process when we move to complete the building,” he said.