Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Bids Much For New GMS Come In Much Higher Than Expected

By JOHN MILLER

It appears as though the new Gurdon Middle School will cost more than originally expected.

Or planned.

Bids on the project were opened recently and brought before the Gurdon School Board Tuesday, Sept. 16.

The district had hoped to build the 25,000 square foot structure for $1 million. However, when the bids were opened and tabulated, the figures ran $1,239,381 -- considerably over what was budgeted.

Part of the problem, according to Superintendent Bobby Smithson, is there was little in the way of competitive bidding on the project.

Contractors and subcontractors in the area are busy with other jobs. Because of this demand, he told the board, they can ask for more money for their services.

Looking at the bid tabulation sheet, Hill and Cox turned in a bid of $229,000 for concrete, rough grading and earthwork. They were the highest bidder. Tri-State's bid was for $178,880, while the low bid came from H.E. Wright and Co. at $175,651.

There was only one bid for masonry work, $156,770, from Wallace Hall Masonry.

Two bids were submitted for pre-cast concrete panels and general construction. Tri-State had the low offer at $124,991, while Hill and Cox bid $148,000.

While two bids were turned in for aluminum storefront doors, windows and glazing, the low bid was not qualified at the time as the bidder forgot to turn in their bid bond. Tri-State bid $45,320 for this part of the project, while API tendered a bid of $22,900, but didn't have the bid bond.

Bids for drywall, insulation of walls and ceilings and the lay in ceilings saw SRT with the low offer at $60,141.70, while Tri-State bid $67,094.

No bids were received for floor covering or millwork and casework.

Five bids were turned in for the plumbing part of the project. J.D. Denton Plumbing was the low bidder at $90,440.

Other bids showed Floss Plumbing and Mechanical at $195,000; AirMaster Inc. bid $108,903, while Tri-State had a bid of $110,556. The high bidder was Arkansas Industrial Mechanical for $312,000, but included a bid for heating and air conditioning. This bid was rejected because the two bids were not separated.

Four companies bid on the heating and air conditioning part, with the low bid coming from Dean's Heating and Air at $134,100. Minish Sheet Metal bid $160,000, while Tri-State's bid was $185,620. AirMasters Inc. bid $213,984.

Only two companies bid on the electrical section. Gigerich Electrical was low at $159,800, while HAI's bid was for $183,000.

For the pre-engineered metal building system, Hill and Cox bid $231,000. The low bid, though, came from H.E. Wright and Co. for $227,588.

These bids left the board in a quandary. Smithson suggested rebidding the aluminum storefront doors, windows and glazing, floor covering and millwork portions of the project.

He also recommended the board reject the pre-cast concrete panels and general construction, plumbing and electrical bids, saying the district's employees can do most of this work themselves, thereby saving some money.

The bids for masonry, drywall, insulation of walls and ceilings, lay in ceilings, the pre-engineered metal building systems and heating and air conditioning were accepted by the board under Smithson's recommendation.

The board also agreed to hire James Stiffler as the plumbing contractor at $25 per hour for up to a year. Bobby Pilgrim was hired as the electrician for the same rate of pay and time.

Smithson said with the district doing a lot of the work, the bid cost can be reduced by a third, or about $80,000. Still, he told the board, the district needs to come up with $200,000 to complete the project.

He suggested, with the board agreeing, the district spend $100,000 from the operation budget for the next two years to do this.

However, this will not cover furnishings for the building nor a parking lot.

Smithson said the district had been told its assessments had increased another $2 million. Steady growth, he told the board, is expected through 1999.

This is partly because International Paper Co. has stated it has big plans for capital improvement for the Gurdon plant and intends to do $40 million in renovations there.

In other business, the board rejected proposals to allow school vehicles be used for field trips from Head Start and a local pastor.

This was done because there could be problems with the district's liability insurance, and the driver would not be covered by the school's policy at all.

Talking about the parking lot situation at Gurdon High School, Smithson said quite a bit of work has already been done, as the current contractor has removed the damaged asphalt and gone down at least 12 inches to remove part of the base.

The base is being replaced by SB2 crushed stone because it holds up to heavy traffic better and longer.

Additionally, a French drain has been put in place to keep water from getting underneath the concrete and asphalt in front of the building.

Smithson said several problems were found when the lot was dug up. There were some areas where the gravel was not 12 inches deep, as contracted for in the specs, and there was less than two inches of asphalt.

The cost of reworking the lot will be passed on to the district's attorney, with hope to recover it in the lawsuit against the contractors.

Enrollment in the Gurdon district is down by 18 students at this time, Smithson said. There are 905 students enrolled at this time, he told the board.

But, he continued, the district usually picks up some students during the third quarter of the year, which should help.

Part of the reason for the numbers being down a little, he said, is more are going to home schooling. Smithson said there are at least 10 students he knows of in home schooling at this time.

He and the board disagree with the concept of home schooling as the students are not given the same caliber of education in many cases.

However, Smithson said all parents have to do is fill out some papers and have their children tested by the educational cooperative.

Should the students not be doing well, though, the district has no recourse.

Smithson said students in home schooling should be tested every nine weeks. If they fail their tests they should be tutored and if they still cannot pass, be placed back in a regular school. "We need tighter reigns on home schooling," he said.

Alan Wimberly, the Gurdon band director, presented handbook changes to the board for the band program.

He said while the students have good work ethic, there needs to be some teeth in the punishment should they fail to follow the rules for extra rehearsals.

He suggested dropping a student's grade for missing two, and continuing to drop a letter grade for each additional extra session missed.

The board agreed to put this on its first reading and bring it up again in the October meeting.