By Lynn Kutter
ENTERPRISE-LEADER
FARMINGTON -- Farmington School Board last week approved several items dealing with Phase 3 of the Farmington High School campus.
Phase 3 includes a new football/soccer stadium, concessions and restrooms, track, pressbox, parking and indoor practice facility with offices and locker rooms.
The Board approved an additional $38,000 for earthwork for Phase 3 because of unforeseen problems, according to Bryan Law, superintendent of schools. Law said dirt work is one of the hardest parts of construction as far as costs because no one knows what is under the dirt.
The Board also approved a low bid of $468,634 from Crowder Construction of Fayetteville to install utilities for Phase 3.
The building package has gone out for bid and Law said the district's construction manager, Kinco Construction, will review and evaluate bids before making a recommendation to the School Board.
Mark Haguewood with Hight Jackson Associates, architects for Phase 3, last week said Kinco will price costs for the base package and then have four add-on alternatives.
The base bid will be the stadium, track, bleachers, pressbox, concession stand/restrooms, ticket booth and a field house with offices, locker rooms and a weight room.
The add-on alternative bids will be: #1 indoor practice facility and cheer/dance locker rooms; #2 bleachers and pressbox at the track; #3 south parking lot and a smaller parking lot; #4 brick wraps around the four steel columns for the scoreboard.
By having four add-on alternatives, the school will be able to pull out specific projects if bids come in too high, Haguewood said.
Last month, the School Board voted to place a question on the May 22 preferential election ballot asking voters to allow the district to restructure and refinance five bond issues to generate an additional $9 million for Phase 3 and for improvements at the old high school.
Law said school officials believe the district will have the money to build all facilities in Phase 3 if it receives a favorable vote on the question. If approved, the school's new maturity date for debt would be extended another 30 years to 2048.
In other action, the Board OK'd a new bid for a greenhouse for the high school's agriculture program for $29,218 from Greenhouse Megastore. The greenhouse will be installed this summer behind the high school.
Board members approved a recommendation to amend the district's sick leave policy. Before, when someone retired or left teaching, the district would keep the employee's first 30 days of sick leave and pay the employee for the remaining sick days.
The new policy states employees will be compensated for all sick days when they retire or leave teaching. After looking at the policy for other districts, Law said it was found Farmington had the most restrictive sick leave policy. He said with the former policy, teachers might be encouraged to take sick days so they wouldn't lose them.
The Board also approved a three-year contract with SG 360 Service Group for custodial services for $40,750 per month. According to Law, this cost is less expensive than the district's current contract with another company.
General News on 04/25/2018