The Eastern Pulaski Schools campus will get major paving and sidewalk upgrades in the coming months. The school board awarded a $2.4-million construction bid to Rieth-Riley Construction Company Monday.
That’s in spite of the fact that the school corporation only got one bid for the work. “Unfortunately, we’re back in the same position we were last year with only one bid,” Superintendent Dan Foster told board members. “I can say that I’m very pleased with [Gibraltar Design’s] efforts this year. They were in constant contact with four of the major companies that we were hoping could bid. Town and Country, I know, had an issue with concrete sub. That was one reason they didn’t bid. But all that aside, they have gone through and reviewed the bid specs to make sure everything is according to plan.”
Foster said that even though there was only one bid, it was only about $45,000 more than initial estimates. The school corporation has a few different funding sources available for the work. Foster explained that nearly $1.1 million was encumbered out of the 2016 and 2017 budgets, and another $300,000 was budgeted this year. On top of that, there’s almost $560,000 left over from Eastern Pulaski’s renovation project from a few years ago.
Foster said that, along with about $400,000 out of the Rainy Day Fund, is enough to cover the base bid and all three alternates. “You spend more money when you re-mobilize heavy equipment like that,” he said. “We have the funds. We’ve committed so much of that already to do this, and with a little bid out of the Rainy Day Fund, we can actually support all of that.”
With the base bid and all the approved alternates, the work will include resurfacing the driveways and most of the parking lots on the schools’ campus. The south driveway will be widened, and a new walkway will be built to the baseball stadium. Many of the existing sidewalks and curbs will be repaired, and the parking lots’ landscaping islands will be removed.
Work is expected to start as soon as next month and last through the summer.
