By Courtney L. Anderson
MERCER COUNTY — The opening of bids for renovations at the Mercer County Career Center was pushed back a month to allow contractors extra time to prepare offers, center Administrative Director Rachel Martin said.
Bids were originally supposed to be opened on Wednesday but Mrs. Martin said that the center’s joint operating committee moved them to Aug. 8 after several requests for extensions.
Representatives from 26 firms attended a pre-bid conference for the job, Mrs. Martin said, and others have called for information since.
“Hopefully, that’s good,” she said.
Low bids for two other area school building projects in recent months were less than officials expected.
In June, bids to build a new school in Brookfield came in about $700,000 less than school officials expected. Construction of a K-12 complex will cost about $23.3 million and the total cost of that project is $35 million.
Mercer school directors in February got a low bid for renovating Mercer Elementary School that was $1.9 million —11 percent — less than they’d estimated. The project’s grand total is about $16 million.
Architect J. Greer Hayden of HHSDR Architects/Engineers, Sharon — the firm that’s also handling the Career Center renovation — at the time said the costs were lower because of a large number of bidders and good timing for the construction.
Another thing that could hold up the center’s renovation is that Reynolds School District board members have voted against it. They’re the only board among 10 members schools in Mercer County who did not support the project.
The exact price of the total renovation of the 38-year-old building won’t be known until bids are in, but Mrs. Martin said it’s not expected to exceed $19 million. The aging infrastructure in the building will be upgraded, specifically to catch up with technology and to be able to handle future programs.
The member districts will share the cost, with portions ranging from $712,000 for Commodore Perry to Hermitage’s $4.34 million contribution.
Mrs. Martin said that they can legally proceed with the renovation without all the districts in favor, but the center’s joint operating committee does not want to go ahead with the project unless everyone is on board. She said she hopes that Reynolds directors will change their minds if questions are answered.
Reynolds board President John Lowry said the board’s made contact with a bond agent to discuss financing but has taken no action to reverse their prior decision.
When asked why the board voted “no” on the project, Lowry said “The list is miles long.”
“It’s too much money. Everybody’s budget’s too close right now,” Lowry said.
Mrs. Martin said she’s been asked if the project can be scaled back.
“We believe we’ve worked very diligently to only include items that needed to be included” in the renovation, Mrs. Martin said. So if things are cut from this project, they’ll likely still have to be done later at possibly a greater cost.
