During a three and a half hour executive session last Monday, board members met with the contractors, who were visibly nervous about whether or not the contracts would be dropped, and one group left the room carrying a man. They made loud exclamations about how bad the meeting was, and the man being carried then exclaimed that he was “going to throw up.”
But despite the drama, Bob Folkman, head of the building program with the school district, was instructed to hold further meetings with the contractors and report back to the board.
Monday, board chairman Jim Shelton said the trustees “would not change the course of action started three years ago.”
He said the discussion of possibly terminating the contracts started because of fears sparked by budget pressures.
We thought we may have to find more competitive bids on the open market, he said.
However, he said that through discussions, the contractors have proven they are indeed the school district’s partners in the $365 million building project, which will include four new high schools, a new vocational school and two new elementary schools.
After deciding not to make changes in contractors, the board unanimously approved the site package bids for both the Chastain Road property, where the vocational and Chastain Road Elementary schools will be built, and for the new Dacusville Elementary.
The Chastain site preparation will have a guaranteed maximum price of $1.98 million, and the Dacusville site’s preparation will have a top price of $2.1 million.
The board also passed third and final reading of a general obligation bond resolution and of the fiscal year 2010 debt service budget.
They also passed second reading of a resolution to accept federal stimulus money for energy conservation, that could be up to $393,000, with 75 percent coming from a grant and the rest coming from a zero percent loan.
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