With Nov. 3 looming on the horizon, Dowagiac Union Schools Superintendent Paul Hartsig is kicking of the district’s efforts to sell its pair of upcoming bond proposals that will go before local voters on Election Day.

His first stop of the campaign — the weekly meeting of his fellow Dowagiac Rotarians.

The Dowagiac Superintendent laid out the details of Union School’s upcoming pair of bond proposals, that are intended to raise nearly $40 million worth of renovation and construction projects at many of the district’s school facilities, during Thursday’s meeting of the Dowagiac Rotary Club.

Hartsig laid out a brief history of how the proposals were created, and how, if passed, they will benefit the students learning and families living in the district.

If passed, the two proposals, which call for an increase of 2.5 mill and 1 mill respectively, will raise money for improvements to the security, technology, HVAC and infrastructural needs of Dowagiac Union High School, and Patrick Hamilton, Justus Gage, Kincheloe and Sister Lake elementary schools. They will also pay for ADA-compliant bleachers at Chris Taylor Alumni Field and the construction of a new competition gym at Union High.

With the age of the district’s schools, excluding the 10-year-old Dowagiac Middle School building, ranging from 46 to 69 years old, the work of the district’s custodial and maintenance staff is longer sufficient to keep up with the deteriorating infrastructure, Hartsig said.

“We’re at the point now where we need a critical upgrade of our facilities,” Hartsig said.

With a growing number of elementary and high school classrooms implementing Chromebooks and other one-to-one computer devices to instruction, improvements to each building’s wireless internet and other technological needs are crucial, Hartsig said.

“When they built these [systems], there was like a two-lane highway for technology, and there wasn’t a lot of traffic,” Hartsig said. “What we really need now are four-lane highways.”