(Seguin) — The Seguin is introducing its new chief financial officer.
The school district is publicly introducing the leadership of Elizabeth Oaks to its administrative team. Oaks replaces former Chief Financial Officer Tony Hillberg.
Oaks, who has already hit the ground running, says she is grateful to be a part of the Seguin ISD.
“I’m very excited. I started two weeks ago and they have been extremely welcoming. This is a busy time of year to come in with school finance and the operations and construction going on as well but I do live in Seguin and so I’m honored to serve in this role for Seguin ISD and be more involved in the community and kind of dig into the school finance situation in particular for the Seguin ISD. Every school has a different situation so I’m excited to get started. There’s going to be challenges and obstacles but that is just school finance,” said Oaks.
Oaks is no stranger to school finance and brings a wealth of experience to the district. In fact, she says this new adventure in the Seguin ISD brings her home.
“I’ve been in public school for 18 years. I started in north of Amarillo about 18 years ago and I have been in La Vernia for the last year and a half. I was between Lubbock and Midland at a school named La Mesa prior to that for about six years so I’ve been a business manager and a chief financial officer for about 18 years,” said Oaks.
Oaks says she is dedicated to serving the district and its taxpayers by not only being fiscally responsible but also by being transparent.
“I am an open book and I think it’s important that when it comes to our finances and construction that we are as transparent as possible. We are funded by tax dollars and my job is to carry out what the school board instructs me in what they see as our future and they are definitely elected so they are speaking for our taxpayers,” said Oaks.
Despite being here a short time, Oaks has already secured the general contractors for both the renovation at Barnes Middle School and the construction of the new McQueeney Elementary School campus.
Oaks says school board approval on Tuesday has officially cleared the way for the expansion at Barnes.
“So, we put out a RFP on Feb. 13 for renovations and additions at Barnes Middle School and we did receive two bids back on this project. The contract was awarded to the Koehler Company as the general contractor. We felt like two responses was a good response. There is a lot of construction in this area and in Texas so we were happy to get two responses. The price came in at $24.5 million which we felt was like a very competitive price and I believe they had allocated $24.3 million when they did this bond as part of the planning so for it to come in at $24.5 is pretty close,” said Oaks.
Oaks says the district was also pleased with the general contractor selection for McQueeney Elementary.
“We also received two bids for that one as well. Their bidder on McQueeney was Flintco — $44.9 million. So, $54 million was allocated to this project. Of course, that is going to include soft costs because this is a new campus so $54 million was part of the original plan with the bond but $45 was allocated for this part that we bid out for,” said Oaks.
Oaks adds that by selecting the general contractor, the district can now officially move forward.
“The design is done. We plan on getting this started as soon as possible. All the surveys are done. We do have permits approved for McQueeney already so we are hoping to break ground in May for both projects actually,” said Oaks.
Both the Barnes and McQueeney Elementary School projects were voter approved in 2022.