News : Storm impact on V-S property minimal; school year to begin as scheduled

Scoreboard to be replaced, again: The VS baseball field was also damaged in 2011.

Despite one close call at Tilford Elementary School and a very close call at the Vinton-Shellsburg Middle School/Administration Building and wind damage that affected the main heating and cooling unit of Shellsburg Elementary, the Vinton-Shellsburg district escaped major building damage during the July 17 tornado in Vinton and wind storm in Shellsburg, reports Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock.

“We had damage to the school grounds and some building damage but it could have been so much worse,” said the Superintendent. “We will be able to start school on time and without any adjustments to how we do things.”

The worst damage took place at main damage was to our softball and baseball fields in Vinton and the ball field in Shellsburg.

“We will need to work on replacing fencing, dugouts, lights, Shellsburg's concession stand and other buildings, the BB scoreboard and bleachers. We'll have a new scoreboard at the baseball field which was new after the 2011 windstorm,” Hainstock says.

Also, a main heating and cooling unit at Shellsburg tipped over in the wind which in turn broke a gas line.

“Because of the quick response of our custodian, buildings and grounds director and personnel from Alliant Energy, we had the gas turned off and building aired out in a timely manner,” says Hainstock “We ended up having to remove some food from the kitchen at Shellsburg because of the power outage associated with the gas leak.”

Because the communication tower behind Tilford went down, the district is currently without the equipment needed for its bus radio system; some trees on school campuses were also destroyed.

Dave Vermedahl is the district's local insurance representative for EMC Insurance.

Dave worked on submitting a claim that Sunday and we had an adjuster on site first thing on Tuesday,” said Hainstock. “We'll have a $1,000 deductible but then all of our expenses should be covered to replace and fix the damaged areas.

Damage estimates include: Fencing will be about $22,000; the work on bus radios may cost up to $12,000 but the district is working to repair versus replace; the scoreboard will cost about $7500 to replace.

“We are not sure about the costs associated with the HVAC unit at Shellsburg and it will depend on what we find once we put it upright. While we don't have all of the costs, they could add up to almost $80,000.” Hainstock says.

Volunteers made big difference

V-S is “very fortunate” to have had so many staff and others volunteer to pick up debris behind Tilford, says the Superintendent.

“We had about 50 volunteers on Tuesday and then on Thursday we had two AmeriCorps crews assisting. John and Rob Hansen assisted by bringing in a loader which assisted in the clean-up. Les Bearbower, our buildings and grounds director, did a great job in coordinating the review of the district's facilities and grounds including inspecting all of our roofs and rooftop units, coordinating all of the clean-up efforts, and contacting vendors as we work to replace items,” Hainstock said.