By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
ASHWAUBENON – A low bid of $679,600 from Reeke-Marold Company to install new boilers, a new chiller and digital controls for upgrading the heating, ventilation and air condition system at the Cormier School and Early Learning Center was approved Wednesday, June 10, by the Ashwaubenon school board.
Building and Grounds Coordinator Tom Schmitt said five contractors bid on the project, which is part of the $10.05 million capital referendum district voters approved in April.
“The low three bidders (were) really, really close, which is a pretty good indication the specs were well-written and that they were very clear,” he said.
Reeke-Marold’s bid was $1,300 less than B&P Mechanical’s bid.
Schmitt said Reeke-Marold anticipates a start date on the project of about July 4, based on approval and contract signatures.
Though $625,000 was budgeted when estimating the total referendum amount, Schmitt said about two-thirds of the improvements planned at Cormier school are left to bid out.
“It always ends up where some (bids) are a little bit over and some are a little bid under,” he said. “I’m pretty comfortable where this one came in.”
Business Director Keith Lucius said the work is included among upgrading school safety at Cormier school, which was estimated at $2.75 million overall.
“The logistics of doing that all in one summer just was not possible,” he said. “The reason we’re doing this now is to get this work done. It’s that much less space we have to have when we start the larger project of the office remodeling and the safety upgrades.”
Lucius said doing the HVAC portion of the project this year will also result in energy savings.
Gym wall painting
In connection with gym floors being replaced in the auxiliary high school gymnasium and at Parkview Middle School and Pioneer Elementary School, the board approved a bid of $23,737 from 360 Painters to paint those gym walls.
Schmitt said remaining referendum funds allocated to replace gym floors at the high school and Parkview will be used to paint those gym walls, while Pioneer is being painted as part of the gym wall repair project in the referendum.
Schmitt said painting the gym walls while the floors are being replaced would be less costly and help with the appearances of the new flooring.
Update on projects
When asked about the status of capital referendum projects now underway, Schmitt said work to replace windows and doors at Parkview should be done by the second week in July.
Schmitt said three gym floors being replaced have all been demolished with the new floor at the high school being installed first, before moving to Parkview and Pioneer.
“It takes about four to five weeks to finish a gym floor from beginning to end,” he said.
Schmitt said all the lights in the three gyms have been replaced with LED lighting.
He said a four-week process to repair the gym wall at Pioneer began June 9.
Schmitt said the district is working with the Rettler Corporation and GEI to repair the high school track, estimated at $680,000 as part of the referendum.
“We hope to have that out to bid by June 25,” he said.
Because the project would involve modifying a cap on a landfill site, Schmitt said it must be reviewed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which is expected to take 30 to 60 days.
“We’re doing everything we can with GEI to get pre-approval from the state, so we can get it out to bid as quickly as possible and we can get that to happen,” he said. “That project will probably start near the end of July.”
Schmitt said bids to install air conditioning throughout the high school, Pioneer and Valley View, which has an estimated total cost of $4.35 million, will be advertised in December to receive in January for work in the summer of 2021.
Ten-year plan
The board also approved a 10-year facilities improvement plan to prepare the 2020-21 budget and future budget projections.
Schmitt said the plan “looks a little bit different with the passing of the referendum and the tight budget year that we have next year, and the fact that we’re doing all these improvements in the school this year.”
“This upcoming year, there’s zero dollars in the capital improvements plan, but what I was able to do is restructure the 10-year plan, so that each year we fit that between a $500,000 and $600,000 goal of facilities improvement per year,” he said.
Schmitt said the plan doesn’t approve any funding for projects at this time, because they are approved on their merits during the budget process.