Credit COVID-19’s affects on construction materials supply chains with Carroll County’s School Board seeking another round of bidding for Carroll County High School renovations and additions following a March 28 meeting at the Governmental Complex. The Carroll County School Board rejected all three bids it received on the project.
Credit COVID-19’s affects on construction materials supply chains with Carroll County’s School Board seeking another round of bidding for Carroll County High School renovations and additions following a March 28 meeting at the Governmental Complex.
Prior to the action rejecting the three bids which the division had received, the board unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the Carroll County Board of Supervisors and the Carroll County EDA to refinance the outstanding debt in the CCHS HVAC and STEM Lab Project with Webster Bank. The County benefits from the refinancing of the outstanding debt for the project with a rate of 2.62% interest. This is a decrease from the current rate of 3.5% and lowers the term of the loan by ten years. The current debt structure through USDA Rural Development had a final payout in 2054.
“This is really just a formality because they (the Supervisors) hold the debt. We have to approve it and so does the EDA in a motion to approve the resolution,” said Finance Manager Tammy Quesenberry.
Board Member “Bob” Martin offered the motion to approve the resolution, which received a second from Board Member Jennifer Sowers.
Prior to this action, the board unanimously approved the proposed 2022-2023 school operational budget, and food service fund, textbook fund, and school debt service budgets with no changes. The total school operating revenue summary for the Fiscal Year 2023 requests level funding locally with revenue and expenditures balancing at $59,543,835, an increase of $13,322,619 over the last fiscal year’s budget.
“We have been talking for months that we were putting the Carroll County High School renovations and additions project out to bid. This is to be funded through round three of CARES money so it is Federal funding….no local money,” explained Quesenberry. “The open bids for this went out when Ukraine went to war, diesel prices went up, inflation rates went up. A horrible time to be doing that. We can’t get contractors or subs (subcontractors) to commit on prices. Everybody was padding their bids…the bids came back higher than expected. After reviewing them with our architect and local contractors, we confirmed this was not the time to accept a project. We ask you to reject these bids.”
She said if rejected, the three vendors returning bids would be notified and the project would be put out to bid again, tentatively set for June 28 so the four-week bid cycle could lead to a bid being accepted in early August. Quesenberry told the board this time frame would be before the deadline to spend the federal funds (which is September of 2024) with the whole project, hopefully, wrapping up then.
“This was probably the worst week we could have opened a bid in,” said Superintendent Dr. Mark Burnette. Quesenberry said further consultation with the architect (from the local firm WM2A Architects) will lead to the project being scaled down a little bit when it goes out to bid this summer to keep it within the budget. The project’s budget for the federally-funded project is around $6.8 million, which includes contingency funding for overages. According to information supplied by the district, the base bids received were in the amounts of $12,115,000; $10,777,000 and $9,892,000.
A Request For Proposal (RFP) was issued on February 4 for project. Pre-bid meetings were held on February 16 and 23. Bids were opened on March 9, with three vendors responding. This proposal included features as follows:
The addition of an auxiliary/standard gym with locker rooms and separate changing facilities, including HVAC to allow for social distancing for physical education classes and indoor athletic team practices
– The addition of four (4) classrooms and a multi-purpose room as well as the renovation of an existing library/media classroom, including HVAC upgrades to accommodate social distancing and pandemic mitigation strategies
– Renovation of the auditorium and band classroom to replace carpeting, upgrade seating to auditorium seating with desk capabilities, and make any HVAC and electrical upgrades to improve indoor air quality.
– The addition of single stall bathroom facilities throughout the proposed building including the addition of a handicap-accessible ramp to make those same facilities accessible at the auditorium and gymnasium to allow for mitigation and social distancing.
David Broyles may be reached at 276-779-4013 or on Twitter@CarrollNewsDave
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