Building Project
On Tuesday, November 21st the district opened bids for the building project. They came in extremely favorable to the district. This past Tuesday, the school board held a special meeting to award bids to the low bidder. The contracts are being drawn up and after they are approved by the district's attorney will be sent to the bidders and the construction process starts. We won't see much over the winter as materials will be ordered and plans and schedules will be finalized so that as soon as spring arrives, construction can start. At this time, we have a projected completion date of March 29, 2019. It's unlikely we would move in the middle of the year, but this gives both the contractor and us time for the move and also if there are any weather delays we have plenty of time to address them. We expect to fully be in the building for the fall of 2019.
Bids
First, I want to thank all of the contractors who participated in the bidding process. We had six general contractors bid with the winning bid going to Cresco Building Services out of Cresco. I'm told this is the same company that built the Chickasaw Wellness Complex. Other companies that bid on the project were Cardinal Construction, Henkel Construction, Jooseph Company, Larson Construction, and Rochon Corporation.
Our consultant recommended we bid this in two ways to see how we would receive the best bids. The first way is the general bids as the overall manager of the project but we would have separate bidders for the mechanical and electrical components of the bid. The other way is the general bids would be for everything in the project including the mechanical and electrical work. We chose to accept bids the first way as this has resulted in significant savings to the district. Because of this, we also awarded bids for our plumbing/mechanical contractor, electrical contractor, bleachers, gym floor, and food service equipment. Young Plumbing and Heating was the low bidder for the mechanical work and Schammel Electric was the low bidder for the electric work. The other areas were also awarded.
Because the bids came in so favorable to the district, we were able to select some alternates. The big one was increasing the size of the competition gym. This is something we had wanted to do and the bidding allows us to make this happen. The cost of increasing the gym size will be $116,183. The district chose a few other alternatives including: Adding a door and stairway to room 436. This is the current alternative school and will need a door put back in going up to the new hallway. We also decided to add additional parking to the North side of the high school. Parking is always an issue and with the additional staff that will come with the new building, we knew additional space would be needed so included this. We also decided to take the runoff from the building area near the new ag/industrial tech building underground instead of continuing to let it run onto the parking lot. This should help with water puddling on the asphalt which is a problem whenever it rains. Finally, we will include a new water softener for the new part of the building. We have one for the high school, but with the added locker room space and the new equipment in the kitchen we thought it would be prudent to make sure we had adequate capacity for all of this.
The only major things that are still outstanding are bids for carpet and the casework/cabinetry bids. They will be taking place in the next couple of months. In addition, we are looking at some alternates in the area of flooring for our building. As bid, most floors are vinyl tile or carpet. We are looking at upgrading some areas, like the cafeteria and commons areas to enhance what we have. Those will also be decided at some point in the near future. The last thing that is on our radar is a wrestling room. The board decided to do the necessary sitework for a wrestling room when the pre-construction dirt work was completed. However, it was not included in the bids so we could see what we may have available for this. We do have funds available that may be able to do this, but we will likely see how progress goes so that some unforeseen item doesn't come up. We don't believe this will happen, but it's always better to be prepared for the unexpected.
Progress
We have a lot of things going on in the school with winter sports starting, Christmas Concerts, Speech activities, and the winding down of the first semester. The high school staff has been working hard preparing for their first J-Term Project Based Learning Time. I also want to send out a big thanks to the many businesses that have been working with district staff in providing learning opportunities for our students. We have students working for pay in businesses as part of our Multi-Occupations Career Program, we also have students doing internships, job shadows, and business tours. We also had many businesses assist with our Middle School Career Week and of course all of the businesses that are partnering with our Iowa BIG North Program. We are so fortunate to be a part of such a supportive business community. Actually, we are fortunate to have so much caring and support from everyone in our community.
It's a great time to be a part of the New Hampton Community. Everywhere you look things are happening. People are working hard to make this a better place for all of us and I truly appreciate all of the efforts that are being made. Look around at the progress being made on the Tribe Trail, the swimming pool, new houses being planned and built, empty storefronts on main street, This Little Light of Mine in Mikkelson Park, and of course the school project. If you want to be a part of some of these good things, please let me or someone who can help know.
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