Warsaw Community Schools will spend about a half million dollars to build four storage facilities at the four new elementary schools. During a special meeting Wednesday night, by a vote of 4 to 2, the Warsaw School Board approved awarding the bid for the storage buildings at Madison, Leesburg, Claypool and Jefferson to Robinson Construction for $466,177. There were a total of eight bids. Robinson Construction submitted the lowest bid, with the highest bid coming from T.L. Jackson Construction Inc. for $610,459. At the start of the meeting, board Vice President Dan Robinson, owner of Robinson Construction, announced he would abstain from voting on the issue due to his conflict of interest. Board President Deb Wiggins asked him if that included abstaining from discussion, too. Robinson said yes, unless he was asked a question. Wiggins said the storage buildings went through the facilities committee and then the finance committee before coming to the school board. Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott said after the board gave permission to advertise for bids, bids were accepted until 2 p.m. March 2. Jamie Lake, of Kovert Hawkins architectural firm, Jeffersonville, held the bid-opening meeting. Lake opened and read all the sealed bids. The committee, Scott said, looked at ways to reduce the price of the four storage buildings. Seeing no way to reduce costs, and with costs of fuel and materials expected to rise, Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz suggested the committee return to the original bids. Wiggins asked Scott to define what was meant by storage buildings. Scott said the buildings would not only house gas-powered equipment outside, but the buildings would be heated and insulated to store school items from inside the buildings. After the meeting, Scott said the state passed new energy efficiency rules so that heated buildings have to meet certain codes, which added to the cost of the project. At Jefferson, Scott said during Wednesday’s meeting, a kindergarten room is being used for storage of supplies. If Warsaw Community Schools goes to full-day kindergarten, that room will be needed. To be clear, Wiggins said, the storage buildings would not be tractors only. Scott said that is correct. Currently, until the board makes a decision, WCS is renting containers on the school sites for storage, but they don’t have electricity and aren’t heated, which will be a problem in the winter. “Another point Jamie made, the range of bids that came in were very close. He was very satisfied there were no glaring omissions,” Scott said. Finance committee chair and board member Kent Adams said there was a consensus of the finance committee that they build the storage facilities. They will stand the test of time since they will be brick and mortar, and is the most cost-effective way to do this, Adams said. The two board members who voted against the storage buildings were Dan Metzger and Matt Dick. Metzger said he agrees they want quality buildings and not junk buildings, but these storage buildings go to the other end of the spectrum. He said the average cost per building of about $115,000 is beyond what he was expecting for a price. “I think we could have found a happy medium,” Metzger said. He said, however, he didn’t want to start the whole process all over again. Agreeing with Metzger, Dick said when he looked at the price per square foot, he questioned that. While he understood that Robinson’s bid was legal, Dick said he also found some discomfort with it. On the positive side, Dick said, he was pleased that the work would go to local workers. Three of the buildings are approximately 34 feet by 43 feet, according to Robinson after the meeting. The Claypool storage building is about the same square footage but different dimensions. Hintz, per Wiggins’ request, said it was his belief that WCS must project excellence on the inside as well as the outside. He said the buildings will stand the test of time, they will match the new school facilities and meet the standards. “If we had to start over,” Hintz said, “we would have to sacrifice the scope, quality and costs. We can’t change one of those without sacrificing another.” Adams reminded the board that the storage buildings were part of the original school buildings projects. Scott said that true. The original cost of the buildings projects was $65 million. The state reduced that to $59 million, and several items from the scope of the project had to be eliminated, including the storage buildings. With the projects coming in under budget, the school corporation was fortunate to be able to add some items back including the storage buildings. Wiggins took exception with the word “fortunate” used by Scott. She said the board planned it well, looked closely at change orders and did their due diligence so that the project ended up below cost and items were able to be brought back. “This is not that we’re lucky or fortunate, but we kept track of it,” Wiggins said. For the storage buildings, Wiggins asked Scott if the building specifications were followed. He said yes. Were the bids open according to the law? Yes, he said. Was there any collusion between committee members and bidders? No, he answered. Was the board member’s (Robinson’s) bid legal? Yes, Scott replied. Wiggins said if they didn’t do the storage buildings now, costs will increase. The cost of materials went up at least 19 percent in the last 20 days alone, she said. There was no guarantee that if the board didn’t vote to accept the bid last night that the facilities would come in at any less or at any more.
