South Putnam board moves forward with building project

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Gym wall improvements seem to be what the South Putnam School Board talks about the most, and during this month's meeting it was no different as the board decided to postpone the start date until June 1.

The building repair project has been in the works for the past several months and finally the board made some more headway after it approved that the construction drawings be put out for bid.

Previously, the board had decided to go with Glenroy Construction for the first phase of the project, which includes installing steel support beams along with painting of the gym and steel.

The first phase was all set to begin, however the construction company realized that the gym is actually not square.

"The walls aren't parallel," architect Tom Neff said. "They're going to take some of the block apart and see where the steel is."

Glenroy along with the board chose to wait until June to start the project that way, there will be no disruption to the graduation ceremony in May.

"We want it to all go smoothly," Neff said. "A good thing is that all projects will happen together. This will be a lot more relaxed."

The process the steel fabrication is already under way and is expected to be complete within two to three weeks.

Neff also spoke on the skin wall repairs as he came before the board with new design plans, which included the exterior lights that were approved by the board during last month's meeting.

The skin wall project will include an exterior finish system on a half-inch cement board that will attach to the existing wall, a light gauge wire mesh netting to stabilize the existing brick wall and a screen across the bottom for ventilation.

All existing light fixtures will also be updated to include the new LED lighting at an estimated cost of $50,000. The school currently has both halogen and high-pressure sodium lights. It is expected that this new lighting will include less maintenance along with being brighter.

The new and improved costs that were presented to the board are $289,800 for the gym wall repair and $701,097.38 for the exterior skin walls. All pricing included a contingency as well as soft costs. All work is expected to be completed by Aug. 15.

Along with the building project, the board also discussed the ever-changing health care laws. The board decided to lessen the hours for all certified part-time employees who were at 30 hours and above down to 29.5 hours.

Those employees currently don't receive health care and this new change in the lowering of hours will maintain that. However, all other benefits will remain the same. Also, those employees who may have been grandfathered in will still receive the same benefits.

The board also approved the following personnel items: Resignations of Brian Gardner as pool maintenance at the high school and Brent Jones as Fillmore custodian; the extension of maternity leave for Tiffany Dickson; the hiring of Theresa Doud as high school pool maintenance and Mark Carr and Lisa Tandy as the spring and summer mowing crew; summer school drivers' education instructors Nathan Aker, Carl Coons and Allan Rains.

The board also approved two position changes, Troy Burgess as administrative assistant to the principal and Dan Bain as the dean of the middle school students.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: