Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

District Talks Construction

Construction talk dominated the Gurdon School Board meeting Tuesday, Oct. 20.

Superintendent Bobby Smithson said the district hasn't paid for the bleachers or floor for the new physical education building at the Gurdon Primary School yet, but the district should stay within budget for the project.

At this time, $100,557 of the $144,000 has been spent on the work. Most of the interior walls are up and some of the painting has been done. The bleachers should be in sometime in November.

Smithson said the flooring materials are in and it will take about a week to lay the floor. The project, except for the bleachers, should be finished in about three weeks.

Turning to the Cabe Middle School, Smithson said the flag pole for the school hasn't been erected yet, and the sign has yet to be ordered either.

The parking lot needs to be striped still. However, he said, the district's employees have been busy working on the GPS PE building. Once it's done, they can turn their attention to CMS and finish these jobs.

The CMS student council purchased the flag poles for the school.

Everything is ready for a slab to be poured for a PE building at the CMS site, he said. However, the holdup is in having to let the project out for bid.

Construction could start quickly on the post-tension slab once the bids are approved. The board gave Smithson permission to accept the low bidder on the project.

Still, it will take nine weeks to get the materials for the building itself in once they are ordered. This project, too, was bid out. Three bids were submitted, with the board accepting the low bid of $38,582 from Smith Building of Dumas.

The district has set aside $200,000 for the job, which will be on par with the GPS structure. The exception will be two classrooms on the CMS building.

Smithson said only the classrooms will be air conditioned in the facility, with the gymnasium portion cooled by large fans.

Preliminary figures for the CMS PE building are at $184,831 without adding furniture for the classrooms or labor for the building itself.

Dirt work has begun on the new football stadium for the Go-Devils. Six drainage lines will be installed toward Highway 67. If possible, Smithson said, a sprinkler system will be installed on the field as well.

It is hoped the dirt work can be finished before bad weather sets in for the winter. The field is expected to be finished and ready for the Devils to play next season.

However, renovating GPS could be more expensive than expected. Smithson reminded the board $800,000 has been budgeted for renovating the school.

Spending this money won't make GPS a new school, he said, but it will look new. A new primary school would cost about $2 million, and, Smithson said, the district would have problems in raising $1.2 million. Additionally, he said, the voters were told money would be allotted to renovate the existing structure and not build a new one.

It could take five or six months, he continued, to get the renovation plans finalized, leaving the summer months for the work to be done in.

Part of the idea is to replace the old portable buildings by adding new classrooms. These will cost about $60 per square foot to build.

Smithson said a gabled roof would be more practical for the structure as the pitch would allow water to roll off instead of collect as it does on the current flat surface. If possible, he said, a standing seam metal roof, such as is on GHS and CMS, would be built at GPS.

If all goes according to plan, he said, the GHS fieldhouse will be on the northeast corner or the football field, with three practice fields at the school complex as well. These practice fields will be for the senior Devil team, junior high football team and GHS band.

Concession stands at the stadium will be constructed behind the goal post, much as the one is at Gus Brown Stadium.

Planned seating capacity at the new football stadium will be 2,000 total. The board decided to have seating for 1,250 on the home side and 750 for the visitors. It had been discussed to have each side seat 1,000 fans. However, it was pointed out more fans attend home games than visitors, so this is where the seating is needed the most.

The board agreed speed is essential in getting all the planned work done by the start of school for the 1999-2000 school year.

Smithson said plans for GPS could be ready by March and it will take a large workforce to do the renovations at this site.

When questioned about a new scoreboard for the stadium, Smithson said a local bank has talked about buying a new one.

As far as construction goes, he told the board, the district has exhausted its surplus of money and has gone about as far as it can and stay afloat.

New officers were also elected at the meeting, with Jesse Runyan named board president, Billy Tarpley is the new vice president and David Williams will be the board's secretary for the coming year.

In other business, Smithson said existing bonds could be refinanced and save the district $80-90,000. This, he said, would not affect the payout time, but would affect how much interest the district pays on the bonds. The board agreed to refinance the bonds at a lower rate of interest if such rates can be found.

Smithson and the board rejoiced in proposed Amendment 4 being removed from the Nov. 3 General Election ballot. He said had the measure stayed on the ballot and passed, it could have forced the district to close.

Gurdon would have lost more than $800,000 a year in property taxes under the measure.

Still, Smithson said, some change in property tax will likely be addressed in the upcoming session of the Arkansas Legislature. What it will be and how it will affect school districts is unknown at this time.

The construction company responsible for pouring the parking lot at GHS is bankrupt, Smithson said, but has agreed to pay one-third of the cost the district paid for having the lot repaired.

The company that did the dirt work is also a co-defendant in the case, and the district's attorney may talk to representatives from this company about paying a third of the bill as well. This will mean the district will pick up the remaining third and a court case can be averted.

The basketball booster club plans to open a Go-Devil store in the GHS gym during games and sell items such as sweatshirts, t-shirts and caps. The money raised will be used to help pay for team uniforms for all Go-Devil squads.

The club also would like to have pitchforks painted on the highway leading to GHS, similar to the way Nashville as "N" going to its school.

Additionally, the club asked the board to bid on the regional tournament for the state basketball tilt this year.

Future plans the club has includ