Sep 9, 2010 By Patty Yauger 4 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – A scaled back high school renovation project received a near unanimous vote of approval Wednesday from the Connellsville Area School Board. In a 7-1 vote directors authorized Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates of Mechanicsburg to undertake the necessary measures to revamp the drawings and prepare the documents for another bidding process.

The move comes less than two weeks after a majority of the members rejected bids and related costs that totaled approximately $65 million.

According to Dr. Paul Means, board member and chairman of the building and grounds committee, the architectural firm has been advised the project cost cap is $45 million with an approximate $35 to $36 million for actual construction with the additional amount being set aside for soft costs, including architectural, management, legal, financial and other construction-related fees.

It was unclear what fees will be levied by the architectural firm and construction management firm to revise drawings, project phasing and other items. However, Means estimated that an additional $1 million-plus will be paid to the architectural firm and Eckles Construction Management Inc. will receive approximately an additional $160,000.

“We’ve had our differences, but I was confident that everybody would come together to move forward,” he said. “This is for the community and for the children.

“We all have different ideas what we want in the building, but, in the end, everyone realizes that this project has to go forward.”

An Olympic-size pool and auxiliary gymnasium are not included in the downsized version of the project and an area initially designated for district administration offices will instead be utilized for classrooms.

Means said that those portions of the project tied to education will be upgraded, including the cafeteria, auditorium and gymnasium.

Douglas Rohrbaugh, co-owner of the architectural firm, said that drawings will be available to contractors by early January, with construction likely to begin in the spring, provided contracts are awarded.

“This community is going to be proud of this building,” he said.

Means said that the cost reduction would likely keep tax rates at their current levels, provided fiscal restraints that occurred in the 2010/2011 budget are maintained next year.

“Our goal is to (do the project) without a tax increase or a very modest tax increase,” he said, noting that the construction will add 1.4 mills to the overall budget over the next four years.

The amount is reduced by one mill from the original project.

Means said that the downsized high school project will allow for the board to have some flexibility in moving forward with other building improvements.

He plans to schedule additional building and grounds committee meetings to discuss potential school closures, renovations and other options available to the district.

“We need to start that dialog,” said Means, adding that the board may revisit moving the freshmen class to the high school before the completion of the renovation project. “If the impact would be minimal, I would consider looking at moving them before the end of the project.”

Means said that should the move be made, it would likely take place at the start of the 2012-13 school year.

While some questions have been raised about the transfer of the students prior to the construction, Means said that the architects have advised against such a move because of the construction restricting certain usage of the building.

In a related matter, the board additionally approved the submission of PlanCon F to the state Department of Education. The document details the rejection of bids and the district’s intent on moving forward with the project.

Means, along with board members Francis Mongell, Denise Martin, Gary Wandel, Jon Detwiler, Dr. P.J. Carte and Tom Dolde, supported the motions to proceed with the project, with board President Kevin Lape casting the lone no vote.

Lape indicated he did not favor the scaled down version of the project.

Director Jim Fabian was absent from the meeting.