Lincoln School Board voted 3-1 last week to move ahead with a project to improve drainage on Lincoln High School campus and finish the school's football field house.
Board members approved the costs submitted by its construction manager, Milestone Construction Co.
Mary Ann Spears, superintendent of Lincoln Consolidated School District, said the total cost will be $954,520, though she said discussions are continuing to try to reduce that amount.
Board members Connie Meyer, Nick Brewer and Kendra Moore voted to approve the bids and costs as presented at the March 13 meeting. Board member Dax Moreton voted against the motion.
The next day, Moreton said he supports both projects but believes the projects can be refined to save money.
"I don't have a problem with the drainage project. Drainage is a very needed project," Moreton said.
Discussions for the field house have been going on for five years and Moreton said he wants to see the facility completed but wants it built for the best price possible and the best use of school funds.
"I still had questions on it," Moreton said. "The price is not terrible but I think we could realign a little bit more of it."
Greg Ferus, senior project manager with Milestone, presented bids for the drainage project at the board's Feb. 27 meeting. Companies were invited to submit bids on four separate areas for site improvements, with the areas designated as 1-4, based on priority.
The board elected to go with Areas 1 and 2. Bids totaled about $472,000 for those two areas, with most of the cost centered around Area 1. Area 1 involves drainage improvements along the main street going into the high school campus. Improvements include reworking drainage ditches and curb and gutter.
Initial bid tabulations for the field house showed the project would cost about $550,000.
The board in February asked Ferus to see about reducing the costs of both projects and then see if money could be saved if both projects were completed at the same time.
Ferus came back last week with a savings of about $50,000.
The school board has had multiple work sessions and discussed the projects at board meetings for several months. Spears said the board will have another work session on March 27 to discuss more ways to reduce the costs.
Ferus said he will try to "pinch a penny here and there." Construction probably will begin May 1, Ferus said. The drainage improvements would take about two months to complete and the field house about three months.
In other action March 13, Lincoln School Board renewed employee contracts for administrators, accepted the resignation of Peggy Brown, a middle school administrative assistant, and hired Rami Hutchins to fill Brown's position.
The 2017-18 school calendar was approved. The first day of class will be Wednesday, Aug. 16, and the last day will be May 25, 2018.
The board tabled discussion on the 2016 school audit until the April meeting to give members time to look over the report.
Spears said the audit did not have any findings and she described it as the "best audit" the district has received.
General News on 03/22/2017