‘Vote Yes’ Committee schedules Q&A sessions for upcoming school bond vote

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

A new committee has formed to advocate for the upcoming Charles City High School bond referendum.

As the school district moves forward with plans for a $28 million renovation of the high school building, including the construction of a new auditorium, a group of community leaders has come together to encourage residents to support the project.

Darci Tracy, Dean Andrews, Tiffany Rottinghaus, Jen Wohlers, and Christopher Hall (owner of the Charles City Press) have formed the “Vote Yes” Committee to educate voters about the project, which will depend on the passage of a bond referendum in the upcoming Nov. 7 general election.

“The reason we’re hosting the meetings is so people can get better educated before the vote,” said Andrews.

The committee met at Prologue Books and Wine on Tuesday morning with coffee and donut holes for anybody interested in stopping in for a discussion.

Answering questions and collecting feedback, the meeting was informative for both the committee and the visitors. While the committee explained the importance of updating the high school’s infrastructure and building a new auditorium, attendees at the meeting hit them with questions of their own about topics like finance and safety, providing examples of what kind of questions they should prepare for in future sessions.

“I think we were able to tell a lot of information and got some good questions from the people that were there,” said Andrews.

The “Vote Yes” Committee will be holding regular sessions at various locations in Charles City through October to answer questions about the bond referendum.

Upcoming meetings include another at Prologue on Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m.; two 5:15 meetings at Tellurian Brewing on Oct. 11 and Oct. 17; and a morning meeting at Aromas Coffee on Oct. 19.

“That’s what we have set-up as of today,” said Andrews.

The group will also hold tours of the high school on Friday, Oct 20, from 4 to 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 22, from 1 to 3 p.m. to give people a firsthand look at the building and what will be done with the renovations.

“The big thing is that we want to get people informed so they know what they’re voting on,” said Andrews.