BENTONVILLE — School Board members agreed Monday they would like to build a second high school in Centerton.

The board voted 7-0 to pursue the same site on Gamble Road in Centerton that was proposed as part of last year’s failed millage attempt. This time, however, the board will ask for 2.91 mills compared with the 6.7-mill tax package requested last year.

The board reduced its millage request by cutting some athletic facilities from last year’s proposal along with a number of other components that were not directly related to the second high school. Also different this time is the state has pledged to contribute about $13 million to the project.

If voters approve the millage, the owner of a $100,000 home would pay about $5 per month in additional taxes. An election is planned for September.

The board had been studying two sites for the second high school: one on Gamble Road and one on Bright Road in southwest Bentonville. The School District owns land at both sites.

Grant Lightle, a board member, said at Monday’s meeting he wasn’t convinced the Centerton site was the better option. He also proposed the district conduct a survey to figure out which site residents prefer. Board member Wendi Cheatham also supported the survey idea.

“I can support either location, but at the end of the day I would really love to get the biggest pool of respondents, not just the 100 or so (people) I heard,” Cheatham said.

Travis Riggs, board president, said he wasn’t totally opposed to a survey, but said the board would be opening the question up to a popularity contest.

“If you put it out to a survey and the vote is 51 percent to 49 percent, you’re obligated to go with the 51,” Riggs said. “A survey would help in terms of the transparency issue, but it also disengages us.”

Riggs added most people don’t have all the information about the two sites that board members have.

Willie Cowgur, board vice president, said 99 percent of the people he had talked to over the past month who don’t live in south Bentonville favored the Centerton site.

Lightle finally withdrew his idea of a survey. He insisted he would be happy to see the school built at either site, but if he had to bet, it would be on the Bright Road site.

Rebecca Powers, a board member, said she didn’t feel good about building a high school in the middle of a steadily growing area where there already are two schools and another one being built. She mentioned traffic as a concern.

“I don’t like it. It makes my stomach hurt,” Powers said.

The total estimated cost of building a 2,250-student high school — including furniture and equipment — at the Centerton site is $86 million compared with $85.3 million at the Bright Road site. The higher cost in Centerton is owed mainly to the topography of the site.

Those who stayed for all of Monday’s meeting had to stay on their toes. The meeting was moved to the basement of the Administration Building three times because of storms moving throught the area. The board’s vote on location and millage amount happened in the basement.