The Clinton County Board of Education held a special called meeting on Thursday, April 30, to review and accept bids on early site packages that will officially begin work on the new Clinton County High School.
All board members were on hand for the session, receiving some good news from Codell, the Construction Management firm overseeing the work.
There were three separate bid packages presented, including site improvement, the high school geothermal, and a bid package for the proposed ATC geothermal.
While reviewing the bids on each bid package, Codell representatives told the board that all bids had come in under what was expected, which was good news for the school district, and meant savings on the first phase of the CCHS project of close to one million dollars.
Only one bid had been received on the site improvement phase, with the contractors explaining there were problems with two potential other bidders, one of which could not get bonding in time to bid the project.
There were three bids received for the geothermal work and only one question arose that pertained to the ATC (Area Technology Center) geothermal.
Although the ATC facility is not yet funded, there is potential for future state funds to add the facility by the time the new high school project is complete.
Board member Andrew Tallent asked the contractors if it was feasible to go ahead and do the geothermal for the ATC at this time.
The representatives noted that since the pipes and lines would already be in place, even a few years down the road it could still be used, and basically recommended going ahead with that project now so it would be in place whenever a new ATC facility can be constructed.
Board member Jeremy Fryman also said he knew of a local contractor who, when they could get bonded, would have liked to have bid on the site improvement package.
Contractors, however, said if they had to rebid now, it would be too late to get the necessary work done by this August at the site, prior to a new school year beginning.
Tallent, in relation to the bids coming in under estimated cost, said “he liked the numbers he saw.”
Following some discussion, separate motions were made and unanimously approved resolutions for each bid package, with Sunesis receiving the bid for site improvement at $1,229,000; and Mid-State receiving the bids for geothermal for the high school and proposed ATC at $1,494,000 and $629,000, respectively.
Superintendent Wayne Ackerman noted that Mid-State was based in nearby Livingston, Tennessee and both they and Sunesis have local people working for them.
The total site work cost was $3.3 million, almost one million less than early estimates were expected to be.
Since the school district’s Finance Corporation, which is made up of the Board of Education, has to sign off on spending and issuance of bonds, the board meeting was recessed and the Finance Corporation called to order.
An RSA bonding representative then presented a resolution to the board for issuance of bonds in the amount of $4,925,000 for the total early site work.
The representative explained the difference in the $3.3 million construction amount, noting the other approximate $1.6 million costs included all funding necessary for the project.
Those areas include, but are not limited to, architects and engineer fees, which amount to the bulk of the extra funds, plus general managers, bonding fees and 10 percent, or around $170,000, required for contingency.
Board member Vik Soma made a motion to approve the resolution with the Finance Corporation and school district for the $4.9 million bond issuance for the project, with the motion passing unanimously.
Prior to the meeting being adjourned, the board also entered in a brief closed session on personnel ,but took no action upon returning to open session.
The next regular meeting of the school board is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, at 5 p.m.
(A ground breaking for the new CCHS will be held on May 11 and more details appear in a separate article on page 1.)