Board authorizes continued negotiations on developer cost‑shares and approves guaranteed maximum prices for several bond‑funded projects

The Conroe ISD board authorized the administration to continue negotiations and execute final agreements with the City of Conroe, Montgomery County Municipal District No. 207 and the developer on cost‑sharing for a sanitary lift station and force main to serve the Timber Mill/Cartwright/Fowler campus site, the district reported. Planning and construction director Foster told trustees the agreement language and cost shares have shifted since March: earlier drafts showed the city covering roughly 21 percent and the district roughly 4 percent of the lift station cost; a later draft increased the district share and reduced the city share. "We are presenting this as a worst case scenario, which financially we could absorb if we must, but we're going to try to make the best deal possible for the district," Foster said. The board also considered a separate annexation/development agreement that would make certain sewer mains public utilities. Foster said estimates put the district’s worst‑case share for that gravity line at roughly $2.5 million; combined with the lift station the two worst‑case estimates total about $3.4 million. Staff told the board some of the work is already embedded in the campus construction contract and that final numbers could be lower. Trustees approved the negotiation and execution authority 7–0. Separately the board approved construction guaranteed maximum prices and a change order on 2023 bond projects: Teal Construction’s guaranteed maximum price for gym additions at Bush and Powell elementaries was $25,025,279 (project target $27,014,881) and Anslow Bryant’s GMP for Giesinger and Reeves elementaries was $21,454,039; both were approved 7–0. The board also approved a $4,430,079 change order for Brookstone Construction to expand agricultural facilities work (Robinson Road) under Prop C, bringing Brookstone’s total contract to $15,484,590. Trustees also adopted a prevailing wage resolution required on a three‑year cycle; staff said average labor rate changes from PBK’s Gulf Coast survey were modest (about $1/hour on average) and recommended adopting a locally surveyed prevailing wage instead of using the federal Davis‑Bacon default.