Connellsville board to open renovation bids
CONNELLSVILLE – After nearly two years of meetings, public input and other discussions, Connellsville Area School Board will open bids Wednesday for the sometimes-controversial high school renovation project. The bid opening will take place at 1 p.m. in the Connellsville Township Elementary School cafeteria.
It is unlikely the board will take any official action to give the go-ahead for the project or reject the bids until the proposals are reviewed by the district’s architectural firm of Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates and solicitor Christopher Stern.
Jeff Straub, senior project manager with the Mechanicsburg-based firm, said that he anticipates reasonable bids for the multimillion-dollar project.
“I think it is a very good market right now if you have a project to do,” he said. “In another couple of years, the district will likely pay another 20 percent.
“You have contractors that are doing projects for little profit because they are just looking to stay in business.”
Several local contractors have indicated their firms will be seeking contracts, including those that recently completed renovation and new construction work at the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center.
Firms based in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Ohio have also expressed interest in the multi-year project.
“This is a very big project,” said Straub, adding that the job will likely take 28 months to complete. “Your average high school ranges anywhere from 800 to 1,400 students, and this is on the high end of that range.”
Upwards of 40 contractors requested specific information about the project in order to submit cost proposals for general contracting, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, asbestos removal, food service and pool construction work.
The general contractor, said Straub, oversees the actual construction of the building, while the mechanical contractor installs the new heating and air-conditioning systems.
While in most cases the general contractor would supervise the renovation of the high school cafeteria and replacement of the school swimming pool, Straub said that the board requested separate bids for the two areas.
“The school board wants to see the actual figure for these two areas,” he said. “The bids, in general, will likely have a $2 to $5 million spread.”
Should the board agree to move forward with the project, the state Department of Education, too, must review and approve the construction costs before work can begin at the site.
“We’re hoping to be able to issue notices to proceed by the end of July,” said Straub. “By law, the school district has 60 to 90 days to issue the contracts.”
The actual construction costs range from $47 to $50 million. The total bill is estimated at $63 million which includes a wide range of other fees for architects, construction managers, insurance, legal oversight, consultants, testing of equipment during the construction and other related issues, including the inclusion of a contingency fund for any cost overruns and for the purchase of furniture.
“I’ve been involved for quite a long time; behind me there is easily 50 other people that have been working on the project for over a year putting the documents together,” said Straub.
The option selected by the previous board includes the renovation of the existing 222,000 square foot facility and to construct a pool, auxiliary gym and administration additions, totaling nearly 97,000 square feet that would allow for the ninth-grade class to transfer from the junior high school to the senior high school.
Under the plan, utility, telephone, security, lighting and heating systems will be replaced in addition to overall building improvements.
“It is a 40-year-old building and we are essentially going to modernize it for 21st century education as we did at the technical center,” said Straub. “Everything from replacing the televisions now in the rooms with projectors that will tie into the teacher’s desk computer; there are a lot of teachers using power point presentations now.
“Also there will be wireless capabilities that will allow students to tap in anytime.”
Straub said that while there has been discussion that the district should only replace the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems to lessen the costs, it is not a feasible plan.
“Teaching is different today than it was 40 years ago,” he said. “For instance, special education takes more space as does teaching science, so there is a lot of reconfiguring of the building in the renovation to meet today’s educational needs.”
The board will have several options when it comes time to take official action in the matter. It has the authority to reject all of the bids or strike various line items from the project, along with proceeding with the project as laid out by the architectural firm.
Earlier, certain board members stated that they would be willing to nix incorporating an administrative wing at the high school and reducing the number of swimming pool lanes from eight to six in order to trim costs.
Bidders, said Straub, will offer their cost proposals that will allow board members to know the cost for the two items in order to make their final decisions.
The estimated cost for the administrative wing is about $2 million with nearly $500,000 to be saved should the district decide to downsize the new swimming pool, said Straub, adding that bid figures could be higher or lower.
It is estimated the district will receive approximately $12 million in state reimbursement for the construction. The refund incorporates the district’s plan to move ninth-grade students to the high school after the construction is completed.
“This is one of the largest construction projects a community will ever run into,” said Straub. “It can be a very tough decision.
“I believe this school board is very professional and taking this decision they are making very seriously. I believe they want to make the best decision for the community.”