Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE -ÊBids for the new North Webster Elementary School were awarded Tuesday by the Wawasee Community School Corp. Board of Trustees.
Fetters Construction Inc., Auburn, was awarded the general construction bid for $6.813 million. The bid includes four alternates.
Mechanical construction was awarded to A. Hattersley & Sons Inc., Fort Wayne, for $2.25 million and includes one alternate.
Trans Tech Electric Inc., South Bend, received the electrical construction job for $1.673 million, including two alternates. C & T Design and Equipment Co. Inc., Indianapolis, was awarded the food service construction bid for $340,970. Case Direct, LLC, Midland, Mich., received the plastic laminate cabinetry construction bid for $275,349. The last bid, for the media center furnishings construction, was awarded to Handgen-Johnson Equipment Co. Inc., for $56,000.
The total for all the bids, including alternates, is $11,410,289.
Board member Brian Dawes asked if all the bids were the lowest bids and if all the contractors were reputable.
Don Huber, director of finance, said they were all the lowest bids. The school corporation is familiar with most of the contractors.
"We feel comfortable with the bid tonight," said Wawasee Superintendent Mark Stock.
Nine bids were received for general construction, five for mechanical, five for electrical, six for food service, five for plastic laminate and four for media center furnishings, board member Carol Swartzendruber said.
Phil Gutman, with Barton, Coe Vilamaa Architects and Engineers Inc., said they are very comfortable with the bids and they're within the approximate $26-million budget for all the work on Wawasee Schools. Besides building a new North Webster Elementary school, the corporation also plans work at the high school, Syracuse Elementary, Milford School and Wawasee Middle School.
The new elementary will be built on 68 acres Wawasee Schools purchased for $322,092. The 68 acres, formerly owned by Joe Barrett and Richard Kistler, are at the intersection of county roads 750E and 600N, North Webster. The total square footage of the elementary will be 106,226.
In other business, the school board:
• Approved budget work sessions for Aug. 1 and 29 at 5 p.m.
• Approved the resignation of Robyn Jones as a paraprofessional at Milford School.
• Approved Scott Lancaster on a regular teacher contractor to be the Graduation Qualifying Exam coordinator at Wawasee High School for the 2000-01 school year.
• Approved Kristina Long as a grade two/Reading Recovery teacher at Syracuse School.
• Approved Michael Hedman as a fifth-grade teacher at Milford School on a regular teacher contract.
• Approved Michaela Speicher on a regular teacher contract to teach fifth grade at Milford School.
Board members are president Jeffrey Wells, vice president Carol Swartzendruber, secretary Marion Acton, Brian Dawes and David Carey.
