The Putnam County Board of Education met for a called meeting on Jan. 9 to vote on the new elementary school site plan and some minor developments at the middle and high schools.
Assistant Superintendent Derick Austin informed the board that Putnam County Middle School has been struggling this past summer until now to have proper heat and air conditioning due to the boiler and chiller needing to be replaced. The parts are about 25 years old and are the center of control for heating and cooling throughout the school. The board unanimously approved the purchase of a boiler and chiller for the middle school from Trane for $425,685.27 using CARES Act money.
This cost also accounts for the removal of the old boiler and chiller. Austin estimated that the replacement would occur during the spring break to avoid paying higher weekend costs.
Austin also updated the board on a replacement needed for the Putnam County High School Gym Audio System.
The system has been “phasing in and out” and though the school has brought in multiple vendors to identify the issue, over the last year, they have been told numerous times that a replacement would be best. The board unanimously approved the purchase of a high school gym sound system from Formetco Sports for $59,218.72.
The meeting concluded with the unanimous approval of the new elementary school’s site plan. On Dec. 18, proposals went out for the site package, and three vendors submitted bids. The lowest bid was for $6,424,985 from RaLIN Construction Co., including $400,000 in allowances and $300,000 for contingencies. This bid was about $900,000 less than the other bids but was over the school board’s budget.
“The estimate is higher because when they were core drilling on that site, they hit a rock in about six out of fifteen cores that they took. It doesn’t mean the rock is thick or cannot be broken with the equipment but if it must be blasted, we added a $400,000 allowance,” said Austin. “If it doesn’t happen that money will come back to us.”
Breaux & Associates, according to Superintendent Eric Arena, has done business with all three bidders and is knowledgeable about their quality of work. Breaux & Associates requires the company that has the lowest bid to be bonded so that the work is guaranteed to be completed at that price.
“The company has already agreed to the bonding,” Arena confirmed after Austin explained the in-detail meetings that Breaux & Associates completed with RaLIN Construction Co. to clarify the bond.
The next Board of Education meeting will be on Jan. 22 at 6 p.m.