Construction to begin on R-II building
STEVE HARTMAN/DAILY FORUM
Construction on both the Maryville R-II High School performing arts center and Eugene Field Elementary School cafeteria projects will begin as soon as the current school year ends. The R-II Board of Education accepted a bid from Allison & Alexander General Contractors, of Riverside, for construction of the high school performing arts center while at the same time accepting a bid from Lawhon Construction Company, of St. Joseph, for the Eugene Field cafeteria expansion project.
After a 13-month delay caused by higher than expected initial project bids, the Maryville R-II Board of Education accepted separate proposals for the construction of the high school performing arts center and the construction of a new kitchen and new commons and cafeteria area at Eugene Field Elementary School at their April 20, 2015 meeting.
R-II district voters originally approved the no-tax-increase bond issue to finance building/improvement projects April 8, 2014, but after initial bids came in higher than anticipated, the R-II Board of Education decided to re-bid the projects.
The board awarded the bid for construction of the 700-seat high school performing arts center to Allison & Alexander General Contractors, of Riverside. The board then accepted the bid from Lawhon Construction Company, of St. Joseph, for the construction of the new kitchen and commons/cafeteria area at Eugene Field Elementary.
“It was unusual to award the contracts to different companies,” Maryville R-II Superintendent of School Larry Linthacum said. “Usually, construction companies can bid lower on multiple projects because of the one-time cost of getting their labor force, equipment and supplies to the construction site, but it didn’t hold true in our case.
“We went back and went over the bids again, and by going with two different contractors for the two different parts of the project, we saved about $40,000.”
Linthacum said both construction projects should get underway soon, although only limited construction can take place until school is out and the students have left the respective facilities for the year.
“We will start as soon as we possibly can on both projects,”Linthacum said. “Both should be completed for the start of the 2016-17 school year. We allowed a little more flexibility in completion dates from the initial bid specifications. I believe that made the bids come back in more favorably for us.”
The winning bid from Allison & Alexander includes construction of the performing arts center only. If R-II is successful in receiving an outstanding FEMA grant for construction of a second gymnasium/FEMA emergency shelter, FEMA mandates the district take bids for the construction of the facility after the grant is awarded.
“FEMA says if we’re going to pay for 75 percent of a new structure, you will follow our guidelines,” Linthacum said. “They won’t specify their exact guidelines until we receive the grant, so there was no reason for us to bid that part of the project out at this time.
“If we receive the grant, we will receive those FEMA guidelines, and we will bid that part of the project out at that time.”
Linthacum said the board received four combination bids on the Eugene Field and Maryville High School performing arts project, as well as one additional bid on the Eugene Field project only.
“We are excited to finally get underway on both projects,” Linthacum said.
