By John Estridge
In any year other than 2020, this would have been the lead article coming out of the Franklin County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees special meeting Wednesday afternoon, July 29.
But this is 2020, and it was the third leading article from the meeting. Amendments to the school reentry plan and a discussion about the mandatory mask rule enacted by Gov. Eric Holcomb took center stage.
However, bids for a new music wing at Franklin County High School came in a half million dollars below the architect’s estimate.
Martin Truesdell, with Stair Associates Inc., of Indianapolis, recommended the school board members accept the lowest of the four bids submitted. Seifert Construction, based in Ohio, came in at $3.25 million for the base bid. The second lowest base bid was $3.4 million by Poole Group.
According to Truesdell, changes requested by Franklin County High School Athletics Director Denny Dorrel greatly helped reduce the construction costs.
Truesdell said Seifert constructed the bus facility for the school corporation. Truesdell said in talking with FCCSC Superintendent Dr. Debbie Howell and school facilities manager Dennis Brown, their only complaint about the bus facility construction was they did not like the electrical subcontractor. Truesdell said Seifert has a different electrical subcontractor for this project.
One of the alternative bids was for air conditioning the FCHS gymnasium. It was accepted at $110,000. Also, Truesdell recommended approving another alternative bid for mechanical controls. It is $51,000 bringing the total amount of the project to $3.411 million.
With the controls being put into the music wing, it will be a standalone, allowing those in charge of the music department to set the temperatures independent of the rest of the school. This is important for the electronic equipment and the instruments, which will be stored in the new wing, Truesdell said.
The musical wing construction will entail everything inside the walls. Things that will plug into the wall, such as audio equipment, should be done separately by the school. It should help with costs, communication and warranties not to go through a middleman, Truesdell said.
Also, Truesdell said the school would not want to put 2020 electronics into a 2021 facility.
With the alternative bids included, the Poole Group would have had a $3.571 million bid or about $160,000 higher than the one the school board chose, Truesdell said.
Construction can begin as soon as possible and should be completed in time for the 2021-22 school year. After the music wing is completed and the department makes the move into the new facility, the present music area will be made into locker rooms, making it easier for the school to host tournaments in various sports. A new weight room will also go into where the music area is now.
Board member Sharon Wesolowski said she is happy the music department is going to be improved, but she said the timing is all wrong with the FCCSC’s declining enrollment and the COVID-19 situation.
The school board is funding this construction by taking a bond that is coming off and putting it back on to pay for this construction. Thus, it will be tax neutral for the county’s taxpayers, they said.
Acting president Rick Gill explained that to Wesolowski. However, Wesolowski said even though the taxpayers are not paying additional taxes, it still costs.
Board member Terry Bryant said he could see both sides of the argument in that many of the taxpayers have income being reduced by the virus situation. However, he said the music addition is badly needed and so is the air conditioning in the gym.
Frances Brumback, a board member — who was on the speaker phone — said this is needed not only for those reasons but to also draw in students to the school corporation and retain the students who are already here. Also, it improves the educational system for the students.
The measure passed in a 6-1 vote with Wesolowski the dissenting vote.