Fix-up of FHS still on

By NANCY KIMBALL

High bids fail to derail Flathead High renovation

The Daily Inter Lake

Despite a bid package that came in nearly $600,000 over budget and threatened to scuttle remodeling plans at Flathead High School, demolition on the $4.5 million project will get under way Monday.

A new, two-story commons and gym entry is planned at the Kalispell high school, along with food service and learning areas. It will add 12,000 square feet at Flathead High s main east entry and extensively remodel another 4,000 square feet of the existing building.

The addition is expected to be ready for the first day of school in fall 2007, along with the debut of Glacier High School and Kalispell Junior High s expansion.

When it was opened Aug. 4, the 29-item bid package drew no bidders in five areas and another bid for mechanical systems that was more than a quarter-million dollars higher than expected.

In addition, only one bidder was listed on 15 items though construction manager Swank Enterprises may have had several in-house bidders under its umbrella bid on some of those items.

People are not very hungry, Superintendent Darlene Schottle said of the Flathead Valley s bustling construction environment. It resulted in bids that were $582,900 over the $3.2 million construction portion of the budget, when estimates were figured for the non-bidded items.

Noting that we don t have that to play around with, Schottle explained that Swank and CTA Architects Engineers identified cost cuts, and worked with the school board s Construction Committee to propose a new budget and plan for seeking bids more in line with projections.

At their special board meeting Thursday noon, school trustees unanimously backed the proposal.

The first step of the plan was taken when Central Heating and Cooling s low bid for mechanical systems for $823,972 was rejected last week.

Corey Johnson of CTA speculated that bidders may have submitted bids high enough to handle uncertainties in tying the new construction s natural-gas heating system into the existing building s steam heating, which incorporates boilers heated by natural gas. Swank and CTA will go back out for bids during the next three weeks, offering contractors some bidding options on mechanical systems that include heating, air handling and fire sprinkling.

A major area that drew no bids was a hydraulically driven elevator for handicap access to the gym lobby. The school also will seek bids on that, with more detailed explanations and opportunities for contractors to ask questions. Johnson and Swank look for a bid at about $60,000.

They ll talk with qualified contractors to see why they did not bid on the remainder of the items, and look for cost-cutting measures, called value engineering in construction plans.

And they, along with the school, will look for potential funding sources.

Almost certainly, trustees agreed Thursday, one of those sources could include as much as $200,000 of the school s building reserve money.

The building-reserve tax levy which is collected for building repair and maintenance projects logically could be tapped for this remodel, they reasoned, because fire sprinkling and air handling systems from something like 20,000 square feet of the existing building must be upgraded when they are tied into the new construction.

Another option could be eliminating balcony-level bleachers at Glacier High School for now, leaving it with the 2,000 seating capacity on the floor level. Glacier High s current budget includes $77,000 for bleachers on one side of the balcony. Seating on both sides of the balcony eventually will bring capacity to 3,500.

Swank also could build just the shell of the Flathead High kitchen, saving the projected $266,000 for full kitchen equipment until the end of the Flathead remodel or until funds are available later.

These alternate funding options will be considered in the coming months.

Initially, though, budget decisions will be driven by how bids come in during the next three weeks.

One early proposal was to wait a few months to see whether the school could get a better bidding climate if construction across the Flathead slows down and material prices stabilize. It would likely push back opening of the commons addition by a year or more.

However, that option was dismissed when Swank and CTA agreed that it was impossible to predict a better climate.

Asbestos mitigation in the existing Flathead High building has been underway this summer, and will be completed before classes resume on Aug. 30. Swank and CTA are confident that portion of the building will be completed to a degree to assure student safety by then.

Reporter Nancy Kimball may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com.