The Marshalltown Community School District received a $3.4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the state of Iowa on Tuesday. The funds will be used to build a tornado-ready facility at the new Marshalltown High School sports stadium and will cover the entire cost.

The building will provide safety for people attending events at the sports stadium complex in the event of an impending natural disaster. The district received notification of the award on Tuesday from the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEMD). Superintendent Theron Schutte said he was “thrilled to death.”

“We knew this was the type of construction the stadium could lend itself to,” he said. “Since I have been here seven years, we have had a number of severe weather events in which people [at the stadium] had to go to their cars or into the Roundhouse. The fact we have had a tornado and a derecho definitely positions us to be in a better place to be awarded this.”

Kevin Eipperle with FEH Architects in Dubuque helped Schutte write the grant application. He said the district might have gotten the full amount of the project funded because there is no FEMA-qualified structure in Marshalltown.

“The fact Marshalltown has had that weather history made the district more eligible,” Eipperle said. “There might be more opportunities for more tornado-safe rooms in the county.”

Matthew Noble, HSEMD deputy hazard mitigation officer, said the weather history certainly played a role in the grant award. The agency also seized the opportunity to fund a tornado-safe room since most of the funding requests are related to flooding.

“Marshalltown had that in its favor,” Noble said.

Receiving the award was a culmination of two years of work. Grant writing is a time-consuming process, and being awarded $3.4 million is no small feat. A year and a half ago, Schutte and Eipperle submitted the grant application. Since that time, they had to submit three requests for information (RFIs) regarding the application and the storm shelter project.

“It was a lot of work and effort between the district, FEH Architects and Iowa Homeland Security to make sure the application met the right conditions,” Schutte said.

Eipperle agreed the grant writing was a lot of work and said it is not often such a large grant is awarded. He called it a silver lining in light of the unfortunate challenges Marshalltown has faced.

“But that puts you in a place where more might be eligible for funding,” Eipperle said.

Noble praised the speed in which RFIs were returned.

“They put together a good application and were very responsive and professional,” he said. “We really like to fund areas previously affected, and them being responsive was very beneficial.”

At the beginning of the process, different percentages made up the total amount of the award. Schutte said the federal government would provide 85 percent, the state would provide 10 and the local government needed to make up the remaining five. However, by the time the district’s application was submitted, the formula was changed so that the federal government would provide 90 percent — $3,094,037.10 — of the grant and the state would make up the remaining 10 — $343,811.90.

“There are no local matches for this grant,” Schutte said.

There will be some construction costs which the district will have to be responsible for. Schutte estimated the district will pay around $300,000 for aspects of the project not covered by the grant. Noble said some project aspect examples which would not be paid for by the grant would be additional features in locker rooms beyond sinks, toilets and showers.

Noble added that he has not seen an entire project being funded by an awarded grant in his 15 years with HSEMD. He said the reason is Congress increasing the federal share of the cost.

The shelter

Schutte said it will probably be 12 weeks before a storm shelter design will be presented to the school board. Eipperle is working on the design and engineering and said it is about 60 percent complete.

Schutte hopes they will bid out in early October and award the bid in early November. So there might be an opportunity for construction of the storm shelter to begin before the end of 2023.

Eipperle said hopefully foundation work will be finished before the winter.

“We hope to have it [the storm shelter] completed before the 2024 fall season,” Schutte said.

Since the building is outside of the high school, Schutte said work should continue while classes are in session. Therefore, an earlier completion might be possible, but he said that is not 100 percent guaranteed.

The location of the shelter will be on the west side of the stadium, close to the entrance and behind the end zone.

“It will be an equal distance for home fans and visitors to get to, because the concessions stand will also be part of it,” Schutte said.

In addition to the concessions stand, the facility will house two team locker rooms, public restrooms, a training room, a room for game officials and first aid and emergency communication rooms. There will also be a back-up generator in case of a power outage and other emergency mechanical equipment.

“This will be built to a tornado-safe standard, which is why it costs $1 million more,” Schutte said.

Eipperle said the FEMA requirements are the reason for the increased cost. The walls will be made of precast concrete panels and have concrete connections to the foundation. There will be hurricane shutters and emergency lighting, as well as a heating and ventilation system.

In the event of a natural disaster, Schutte said the building will be able to give shelter to about 900 people. First and foremost, he said the structure is intended for people at the high school, predominantly for those at the stadium during sports and activities.

“This is a place for them to immediately take cover,” Schutte said.

However, Schutte said people who might be driving by will also be able to take shelter.

“We are very excited to be in a place where we can move forward on getting this taken care of,” he said. “This will further enhance what will be an outstanding place for athletes and spectators.”

The storm shelter is another construction project for the district in a short period of time. While the stadium is being worked on, the district is preparing to move forward on improvements and expansions for the Career and Tech Education (CTE) wing at the high school, and complete the HVAC project. The CTE and HVAC project is estimated to cost $9.5 million and is out to bid.

Early steps have also been taken to start improvements on Miller Middle School, as well.

“We have a lot of different balls in the air for facility improvements,” Schutte said.

Correction:

In yesterday’s (Thursday, July 19) Times-Republican, it was reported the Marshalltown Community School District received $3.1 million for a safe room in Marshalltown High School. The correct information is a grant amount of $3.4 million to build a storm shelter by the stadium.

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.