Members of the Community School District (CSD) Board of Trustees were surprised to learn in January that the district had a nearly $216,000 bill from consultant Lavallee Brensinger Architects (LBA). At the board’s request, LBA met with the Building Committee, including members of the trustees, March 25 to explain the charges.   

The $215,839.13 in charges are for work on the $30 million major renovation project for the elementary and high school including geotechnical engineering, energy modeling and other planning and architectural services.  

However, trustees said they were surprised because they directed the firm to stop work Sept. 11 to avoid overspending. According to board members, donated money for project planning was running out last fall and LBA was made aware. Both the architects and the district said no work was done after the stop-work order.   

“My understanding was that we were stopping them before we were spending money we didn't have,” said trustee Darrell Gudroe at a Jan. 29 meeting.   

Lavallee Brensinger architect Lance Whitehead told the Register the company invoices for work performed the previous month, per contract. He said the costs covered work from Aug. 1 to Sept. 11.  

However, bond funds to pay for the work are frozen while the major renovation project is in litigation. According to Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 98 Superintendent Robert Kahler, the litigation has added confusion to an already complicated process. After Lincoln County Superior Court ruled in favor of the district Dec. 31, plaintiffs filed an appeal to Maine Supreme Judicial Court Jan. 16, restricting access to bond money. He also said an additional $103,856 was depleted from the donated funds for project planning due to the litigation.   

Kahler said, although he received the bill in October, he did not notify the board earlier because the district was focused on priority repairs, putting together the FY26 budget and waiting on the case's outcome, which was expected sooner.   

“Clearly, we didn't anticipate the lawsuit, nor did we anticipate the appeal after a pretty strong (court) decision,” he told the Register. 

Jan. 10, trustees met for the first time since the March 25 building committee meeting. They briefly discussed the bill but did not bring up further questions or concerns. Kahler reported the district will take more steps to avoid similar misunderstandings moving forward. He said the building committee will meet monthly to review updates and expenses, and the finance department will create a separate account to report and track project expenditures.     

According to Kahler, LBA has been understanding about the complications and has not put pressure on the district. He said they are willing to pause the bill, waiving interest until the litigation is resolved or the end of FY26. 

Kahler said the bill will be paid from bond funds if the litigation resolves in the district’s favor and funds become available. If not, he said there is room in the FY26 budget to pay the bill by offsetting the amount with cuts. He clarified that neither the proposed FY26 budget nor the $1.6 million project bond vote set for April 24 include the charges.   

Previous stories reported the charges to be around $217,000. The figure has been updated here after receiving financial documents from the CSD.