Warsaw School Board Hears Reports On Architectural Firms
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
LEESBURG - Reports on architectural firms the Warsaw School Board is considering for a possible building project were given Thursday.
No decisions were made. The project has no scope. And only a handful of people were in attendance at Thursday's meeting, most of which were school officials or employees.
Superintendent Dr. Robert Haworth reminded the board that according to their strategic plan, they are supposed to have an architectural firm chosen by September.
At the end of the 2003-04 school year, Atwood, Silver Lake and Claypool elementary schools were closed. Since then, students at those schools have been transported to other schools, causing overcrowding. The school board has since said Claypool will be reopened, but also are considering renovating and expanding Claypool and building at least one new elementary school. But no decision has been voted on.
The five architects being considered include Moake Park, Scearce Rudisel/Schmidt Associates, MSKTD, Odle McGuire & Shook and Kovert Hawkins. Subcommittees gathered the data for the reports. Along with comments from other school districts that have worked with the architectural firms, the schools were asked for ratings on the firms for 15 questions, from 1 to 5, with 5 being very helpful. Questions included how well the firm communicated with school officials to the number of visits architects made to the site during construction.
Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott gave the first report, on Moake Park. He talked to four schools that worked with Moake Park and they gave Moake average ratings of 3.3, 4.1, 4.4 and 4.9. Scott said the subcommittee received a variety of comments, including that Moake did very well in a public setting, to a comment that the architect never claimed responsibility for a problem.
Scearce Rudisel/Schmidt Associates received average ratings of 3.5 and 3.4, according to Assistant Superintendent Sandra Hess. One school said they used the firm for 25 years, but due to public questions with a high school project, the school won't use them again. School board member Chuck Sauders said the comments he received on Scearce were all 4's and 5's and came with very high recommendations.
Haworth reported on MSKTD, saying only two out of the four schools he tried to contact responded. They gave MSKTD average ratings of 3.5 and 4.17. The schools reported being very satisfied with working with MSKTD, and the community was very supportive of the project and the architectural firm. However, for one project they had several change orders that had to be made.
Scott also reported on Odle McGuire & Shook, who received the highest average ratings of 4.97, 5.0 and 4.87. The school district that gave them a 5.0, Scott said, "had very glowing comments." Another district only had one experience with Odle, but it was a great experience and had "no problems, very good."
The last firm was Kovert Hawkins, which Hess reported on. She said two school districts responded and both gave them perfect 5's. One district said they would not hire anyone else. However, another school district said they felt Kovert Hawkins was not familiar with schools in the work they do.
Haworth said he had information from the architects on how much they would charge to hold public hearings on what kind of projects the community thinks is needed. Some gave an hourly rate, others a percentage. He said he was reluctant to share them because he was not sure they understood the question. A large firm said there would be no fee for the public hearings to gather information on what the public wants in the building project, a small firm said the cost would be $8,000, while another firm estimated $174,000. The school board suggested Haworth go back to the architects and redefine his question.
Deb Wiggins, school board member, reminded the board a financial consultant also needs to be hired for the project.
Of the architectural firms, board Vice President Dan Robinson said all five firms did a good job, but two were better, including Moake Park who gave the best presentation. However, in the reports presented last night, he said Moake Park didn't come out as good. Robinson also wanted to know how the firms will charge, and was against paying a percentage of the project cost because a firm could raise project costs in order to be paid more.
Haworth said none of the five firms have been sued, though one had to pay out on their errors and omissions insurance.
"Overall," said Robinson, "it appeared we interviewed five good firms, which doesn't make it easier."
Sauders said a local taxpayer told him that if the board was satisfied with the local firm of Scearce Rudisel, why change? "My questions is, are we satisfied? If we are, stay in-house. Stay in the neighborhood," he said.
Tammy Dalton, school board member, said she wanted the best firm hired, and didn't want to hire one just because it was a "good ol' boy" local firm.
Bruce Ferguson said the board may want to hire more than one firm.
Kovert Hawkins, said board member Cathy Folk, was very impressive. They also attended previous school board meetings when the board was discussing whether or not to reopen Claypool Elementary School.
Wiggins requested Haworth gather information on the largest dollar value project the firms have been involved with.
When asked how he envisioned a choice on a firm being made, Haworth said he envisioned making a recommendation to the school board and then the board acting on that recommendation. "I will be as transparent as I can possibly be," he said when Wiggins asked him if he would provide all the information he had to the school board with his recommendation. The project, he said, will be one the community wants, though, not what he wants, that's why he wants to have public meetings on the scope of the project. [[In-content Ad]]
LEESBURG - Reports on architectural firms the Warsaw School Board is considering for a possible building project were given Thursday.
No decisions were made. The project has no scope. And only a handful of people were in attendance at Thursday's meeting, most of which were school officials or employees.
Superintendent Dr. Robert Haworth reminded the board that according to their strategic plan, they are supposed to have an architectural firm chosen by September.
At the end of the 2003-04 school year, Atwood, Silver Lake and Claypool elementary schools were closed. Since then, students at those schools have been transported to other schools, causing overcrowding. The school board has since said Claypool will be reopened, but also are considering renovating and expanding Claypool and building at least one new elementary school. But no decision has been voted on.
The five architects being considered include Moake Park, Scearce Rudisel/Schmidt Associates, MSKTD, Odle McGuire & Shook and Kovert Hawkins. Subcommittees gathered the data for the reports. Along with comments from other school districts that have worked with the architectural firms, the schools were asked for ratings on the firms for 15 questions, from 1 to 5, with 5 being very helpful. Questions included how well the firm communicated with school officials to the number of visits architects made to the site during construction.
Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott gave the first report, on Moake Park. He talked to four schools that worked with Moake Park and they gave Moake average ratings of 3.3, 4.1, 4.4 and 4.9. Scott said the subcommittee received a variety of comments, including that Moake did very well in a public setting, to a comment that the architect never claimed responsibility for a problem.
Scearce Rudisel/Schmidt Associates received average ratings of 3.5 and 3.4, according to Assistant Superintendent Sandra Hess. One school said they used the firm for 25 years, but due to public questions with a high school project, the school won't use them again. School board member Chuck Sauders said the comments he received on Scearce were all 4's and 5's and came with very high recommendations.
Haworth reported on MSKTD, saying only two out of the four schools he tried to contact responded. They gave MSKTD average ratings of 3.5 and 4.17. The schools reported being very satisfied with working with MSKTD, and the community was very supportive of the project and the architectural firm. However, for one project they had several change orders that had to be made.
Scott also reported on Odle McGuire & Shook, who received the highest average ratings of 4.97, 5.0 and 4.87. The school district that gave them a 5.0, Scott said, "had very glowing comments." Another district only had one experience with Odle, but it was a great experience and had "no problems, very good."
The last firm was Kovert Hawkins, which Hess reported on. She said two school districts responded and both gave them perfect 5's. One district said they would not hire anyone else. However, another school district said they felt Kovert Hawkins was not familiar with schools in the work they do.
Haworth said he had information from the architects on how much they would charge to hold public hearings on what kind of projects the community thinks is needed. Some gave an hourly rate, others a percentage. He said he was reluctant to share them because he was not sure they understood the question. A large firm said there would be no fee for the public hearings to gather information on what the public wants in the building project, a small firm said the cost would be $8,000, while another firm estimated $174,000. The school board suggested Haworth go back to the architects and redefine his question.
Deb Wiggins, school board member, reminded the board a financial consultant also needs to be hired for the project.
Of the architectural firms, board Vice President Dan Robinson said all five firms did a good job, but two were better, including Moake Park who gave the best presentation. However, in the reports presented last night, he said Moake Park didn't come out as good. Robinson also wanted to know how the firms will charge, and was against paying a percentage of the project cost because a firm could raise project costs in order to be paid more.
Haworth said none of the five firms have been sued, though one had to pay out on their errors and omissions insurance.
"Overall," said Robinson, "it appeared we interviewed five good firms, which doesn't make it easier."
Sauders said a local taxpayer told him that if the board was satisfied with the local firm of Scearce Rudisel, why change? "My questions is, are we satisfied? If we are, stay in-house. Stay in the neighborhood," he said.
Tammy Dalton, school board member, said she wanted the best firm hired, and didn't want to hire one just because it was a "good ol' boy" local firm.
Bruce Ferguson said the board may want to hire more than one firm.
Kovert Hawkins, said board member Cathy Folk, was very impressive. They also attended previous school board meetings when the board was discussing whether or not to reopen Claypool Elementary School.
Wiggins requested Haworth gather information on the largest dollar value project the firms have been involved with.
When asked how he envisioned a choice on a firm being made, Haworth said he envisioned making a recommendation to the school board and then the board acting on that recommendation. "I will be as transparent as I can possibly be," he said when Wiggins asked him if he would provide all the information he had to the school board with his recommendation. The project, he said, will be one the community wants, though, not what he wants, that's why he wants to have public meetings on the scope of the project. [[In-content Ad]]