TONTOGANY – Otsego hopes to reduce the cost of
building a new elementary school by rebidding the general trades portion
of the project.
Before
doing so, architects, the construction manager and school
administrators will continue to work to carve nearly $1.5 million from
the area of the project that encompasses masonry, steel and other areas
that are considered the shell of the building.
The
board of education will hold a workshop tonight at 6:30 at which it
will reject the general trades bids, and discuss changes to the new bid
package. The new bids will be due March 11, well within the window
needed to keep the project on schedule, according to Superintendent Jim
Garber.
Estimates
set for this portion of the project were $7.6 million, but the low bid
for general trades came in at just over $9 million, according to Garber.
In fact, of the 13 bids received, about five were clustered right
around the $9 million mark. One bid was more than $10 million, he said.
Of
the bids received in five areas, "all looked pretty good" except the
general trades, Garber told the board of education at its regular
meeting Tuesday.
Project
engineer Adam Rosebrock, with RRM out of Liberty Center, shared with
the board that bids for plumbing came in 20 percent below estimates,
bids for fire protection were 45 percent below estimates, HVAC bids were
about 15 below estimates, and electrical came in at 5 percent over what
was anticipated.
In all, the project came in at about 8.3 percent over budget, according to Garber.
Two
of the high-cost areas of the general trades portion of the project are
flooring and a metal roof, and changes in both are being considered
before that portion is rebid, according to architect Brad Garmann, who
also attended Tuesday’s meeting.
The $19 million school is expected to be completed in June 2012.
Also at the meeting, the board:
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Heard an update on how the district’s team of teachers will use a
$93,000 Race to the Top grant. Joe Gerwin, junior high math teacher,
explained the timeline for how teachers will revise existing curricula
to align with new state academic content standards in math, science,
Engligh/language arts, and social studies.
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Approved an agreement with the Wood County Educational Service Center
that is expected to lower the cost of doing business with the center.
Five other "local" school districts will be voting on the agreement as
well; the ESC board approved it Thursday.
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Learned Garber at tonight’s workshop will review his list of
recommended cuts for the 2011-12 operating budget. The cuts, which
amount to about $250,000, include a principal’s position, supplemental
and extended time contracts, and change in the kindergarten program that
will reduce busing costs.
Garber’s goal is to reduce spending by $1 million in increments of $250,000.
The
superintendent has scheduled public forums at 7 p.m. on March 1 and
March 3, both in the high school library, to again explain his
recommendations. The board isn’t expect to vote on the list until April.
In
addition to the cuts, he may recommend a ballot issue in 2012 for
additional operating money in the wake of a projected 20-percent cut in
state funding aid next year.