After dozens of meetings and hundreds of hours over the past nine months, the plans for the new Greene County High School and Regional Career Academy are complete. The Greene County Schools board of education approved the plans for bid letting at its regular meeting Wednesday evening.
The board scheduled a public hearing to be held at its next regular meeting, Feb. 20, to receive bids. The board will accept a bid after the hearing.
The board’s facilities committee has worked diligently to bring the project to within the $21.48 million approved by voters last April.
Board member Steve Fisher asked the facilities committee if there were any concerns with the completed plans. “Our biggest concern is staying in the budget and getting what we want,” answered Steve Karber. “There are some really key things that make this a great project that we’d like to do, and we have to decide if we’re going to be able to afford that or not.”
That’s where a page of alternate options, which is part of the bid packet, comes in. Bidders are asked to list costs for specific elements of the building such as the “learning stairs” and a separate drive for busses. The “add-ons” and “deletes” will be used depending on the final bids.
Board members spent close to an hour asking questions and hearing details of the plan. For example, the classrooms will not have chalkboards or white boards, but large interactive touch screens; the shower/locker rooms will have exterior doors for convenience when using a football practice field that will be on the east side of the building; and the auditorium will include space at the front of the stage that can be removed to create an orchestra pit for musical productions.
The high school portion of the building is about 100,000 square feet, with the career academy another 26,000 square feet.
The county is funding the career academy with $5 million in TIF revenues and Grow Greene County is funding the gymnasium and auditorium at a cost of $4.5 million. Those costs are added to the $21.48 million approved by voters for a total project cost of $35.48 million.
Potential bidders will have access to the bid specifications via bid houses in various cities. OPN Architects will hold a pre-bid conference Jan. 30 at which interested contractors can ask questions and make suggestions on the plans. OPN will issue a plan addendum and the contractors will then submit sealed bids before Feb. 20.
Board member Sam Harding hopes the January bid letting will work in the district’s favor as contractors work to fill in their work calendars for the coming year.
