The Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Board of Education revisited the baseball/softball complex project during their Monday meeting. Last month, bids came in significantly over the engineers estimate of $2.6 million. The low bid was from Dean Snyder Construction for $5,071,000. The board ultimately decided to rebid the project without the concession stand, restroom, press box building of the project, which had proven to be an expensive part of the bids.
An engineer from ISG discussed the new bids on Monday night. The low bid was from Sande Construction for around $4 million. The engineer noted that they had hoped the bids would be a little lower, but they had been in contact with Sande about some other cost saving measures, including reducing a sub-base rock bed. Matt Gillespie of Piper Sandler investment bankers, also spoke about the district’s ability to pay for the project. He noted that even with the school contributing more out of pocket, around $3.2 million, it will be affordable, even as the district continues to pay for other things like maintenance and busses. “You can afford to do it. You have sufficient funds out of your pocket to accept the bid,” Gillespie noted.
The board discussed various alternate features that could be included or deleted from the project. They decided to include mowing strips around some fences, irrigation and to go with field turf. In the end, the board approved a bid of $3.998 million for the project. The ball complex and the middle school gym project (which was approved last meeting) will both begin in about the next month.
During the regular board meeting, Kyle Marker spoke during the open forum section. He asked the district to revisit their policies governing long-term substitute positions. He explained that his wife who acted as a long-term sub in the past was not always given adequate training and tools for some things asked of her. He also questioned as to why his wife wasn’t made aware of a long-term sub position the district was hiring for earlier this year.
In staff changes, the board accepted the resignation of Jordan McLaughlin as JV Wrestling Coach. He will stay on as a volunteer. They approved TLC positions for Brandon Lantzky, Allison Warnke, and Austin Warnke. Jack Forbes was approved for a bus driver position. A counselor sharing agreement with Gilmore City-Bradgate was okayed. CGD will be responsible for 40% of the agreement and receives sharing dollars for this position.
At the end of the meeting, the board went into a closed session for a discipline hearing.
