South Putnam considers summer construction projects

South Putnam Community School Corporation is considering a series of construction projects to be completed during the summer months.

Maintenance Supervisor Jim Samsel provided the school board with a series of quotes at Monday's regular meetings to start to process of approving the projects and getting them started.

The first project was to paint the bus barn and agriculture building to match the pole barns. Samsel said there was one bidder on the project. The board approved the hire of Rick Iseman for the project.

Samsel also proposed putting in new sidewalks on the north side of the high school. He presented bids from Joe Spiker Excavating, 3D Professional Contracting and MSI Construction.

The board voted to table the decision on the sidewalks due to discrepancies between the three bids. Samsel said all of the contractors use fiber in the sidewalk construction. MSI specified the use of rebar, while one of the other bids did not go into detail what materials would be used.

Board president Wesley Hacker stressed the importance of "knowing what you are paying for" before hiring a contractor.

The tennis court is in need of renovation, Samsel added. He said there has not been much maintenance to the court in the last few years and now the top coat is worn, there are cracks in the court and there are issues with the net staying up.

Samsel provided bids from Preferred Construction and Leslie Coatings. The bid from Preferred Construction did not include fixing the net posts, so the board voted to table the decision in order to have more comparable bids.

B&J Construction, Preferred Construction and West Central Contracting provided bids for the proposed crack filling and seal coat for the parking lot. The board also voted to table this decision.

Samsel said it would make sense to approve the sidewalk and parking lot bids on the same night because they will have to schedule the sidewalk work first due to the heavy trucks traveling across the parking lot.

The board will be meeting in special session Monday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m. to make the final decisions on the tabled construction projects.

In other business, the board voted to table the petroleum bids, which is done on an annual basis to allow the school to purchase from the open market.

"With petroleum, every time we advertise they won't give a firm bid," Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt explained, noting the prices fluctuate frequently so a number has to be locked in the day of the contact.

In other business, the board:

* Approved the 2016 budget adoption and review schedule, which will begin Aug. 17 at the regular board meeting with the review and approval for publication of the 2016 budgets, capital projects plan and bus replacement plan.

The public hearing will be during the Sept. 21 meeting and the adoption of the budget will be during the Oct. 19 meeting.

Bernhardt stressed the importance these being held during regular board meetings so the public is able to attend.

* Approved the hire of Brenda Weeks as middle/high school Family and Consumer Sciences teacher.