Athletic Contractors Chosen this Monday

By Jonathan Weaver

Armstrong School Board directors will hold a special meeting this Monday evening at West Hills Intermediate in East Franklin Township to award bids for new construction of the Armstrong Junior/Senior High baseball /softball fields and tennis courts.

According to the school district, there were “quite a number of bids received” during the bid opening Wednesday afternoon.

A bid analysis with Reynolds Construction Management and L.R. Kimball project architects took place over the last several days. School directors agreed to a $29,600 contract for architectural and engineering services through L.R. Kimball Architects and Engineering last month.

Armstrong School District school directors during their regular meeting in May agreed to seek bids for the fields after hearing from L.R. Kimball Project Manager Brian Hayes even thought the football fields won’t be in the discussion.

Superintendent Stan Chapp said in May that the construction will be funded through bond money.

Hayes reviewed previous low bid totals for the fields, a total of $1.1 million – including a total cost close to $344,000 for the six tennis courts, more than $330,000 for the baseball field and the softball field was the least-costly at about $326,500. Only general and electrical contractors would be needed for the work.

The baseball field will have a grass infield and outfield, after school directors decided not to make the infield turf – a nearly $150,000 expense which would have required them to install a retention pond under Manor Township ordinances.

School Board President Joseph Close was pleased to hear about the plans through contingency funds. He said even more additions – such as lighting for the baseball or tennis courts – could come if money is available.

“I think it’s great that we have the money left from the project that we hadn’t even thought that we had,” Close said. “If we can get a portion of that done with the exception of the stadium, it’s going to benefit the kids. They’re going to be on-site, which was our goal. It’s best that way.”

The current plan for next year is for athletes to Ford City baseball fields.

Board directors were not present at the bid opening Wednesday.

A link to the new school sports schedules is to be available on the school district website

 

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.