School board drops April bond vote

MOSES LAKE — There will not be an April rerun of the Moses Lake School District’s recent school construction bond election.

In a meeting lasting only four minutes, the Moses Lake School Board voted unanimously to repeal a late February resolution calling for an April vote on the proposed $135 million. The board passed the resolution at a time when it was unclear whether the bond measure would pass.

“The resolution I have before you today says that the election is over, the manual recount is over, the bond, the projects, and the excess property taxes were approved,” outgoing Moses Lake School District Superintendent Michelle Price told the school board. “The school district, our students and the community are ready to move forward.”

The bond, which required a 60 percent “yes” vote for approval, just barely passed with 60.003 percent — three votes. However, that came after a 10-day long count in which the bond was trailing by two to four votes for much of the count, prompting a group of Moses Lake voters to demand a recount file suit, alleging the county auditor failed to follow the law when confirming ballot signatures.

“If, for any reason, this doesn’t work out, we’ll reset and deal with it down the road,” Price told the Columbia Basin Herald after the meeting.

Grant County Superior Court John Antosz will be hearing arguments against the legitimacy of the vote count on Monday and asking him to throw out the results of the Feb. 14 bond vote starting at 3 p.m. Monday at the Grant County Courthouse in Ephrata.

In addition, a group of bond supporters have also filed suit, asking the court to give them standing and allow them to intervene in the case.

Price said it was time for the district to move and prepare for its construction projects.

“We are preparing for some community meetings to solicit input into the design process,” she said.

The district has been in talks with Minneapolis-based investment bank PiperJaffray to manage the issue of the bond, Price said.