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PLYMOUTH - The controversy over Triton School Corp.'s $13.85-million building renovation project likely will result in a race for signatures.
Marshall County Auditor Jan Quivey confirmed this week Marshall County residents opposed to the plan have submitted enough signed petitions to initiate phase two of the remonstrance process.
Quivey said approximately 300 signatures were submitted to his office last week. He expects more; petitioners have until April 5 to submit their signatures. However, only 100 verified signatures are needed to continue the remonstrance process and Quivey said that number already has been reached.
When the number of valid signatures has been confirmed, the school corporation will be notified and will publish a notice that the building project is being opposed. Twenty-nine days following the publication, a 30-day petition race will begin between those supporting the project and those opposed. The side with the most signatures will decide the fate of the project.
In the past, 250 signatures in opposition were needed to begin the petition race phase, but the state passed legislation that lowers that number to 100. The legislation took effect March 1 and also affects methods used in the petition race.
The new rules ban the use of school-owned equipment in the petition phase unless equal access to that equipment is given to the opposing side.
Triton School District lies partly in Kosciusko County. Quivey said petitions come to his office first because the school buildings are in Marshall County, but any signatures not verified as those of Marshall County landowners will be sent to Kosciusko County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell for verification.
The building project includes the addition of a new science department, new classrooms, a new weight room and infrastructure upgrades throughout 36-year-old Triton Junior-Senior High School. The plan does not include the addition of a new gymnasium.
Originally included in the $16-million scope of the project, the new gym was excluded following two public forums in which residents expressed concern with the project's tax impact. The school board downsized the project by more than $2 million in an effort to appease some residents' objections. At the 1028 hearing Feb. 26 to give final approval to the project, several residents said they are opposed to any project that will increase taxes.
Both the school corporation and those in opposition have stated their intentions to hold their ground if the issue comes to a petition race.
