The Coffee County Board of Education voted Sept. 8 to accept a local contractor’s installation bid for a districtwide athletic‑field lighting project and separately approved a Musco material purchase through cooperative purchasing.
Capital projects lead Calvin Shores (presenting to the board) described differences among bids and urged the board to weigh contractor experience and local availability for post‑installation service. Shores said the lowest bid raised questions because prices for similar fields were inconsistent between sites and noted the locally based CNH Contractors had done multiple athletic projects in the region.
“CNH has always been really good to work with us…they are local, they do work for us in the past,” Shores said in explaining the recommendation. The board approved CNH Contractors’ installation bid for $448,140 by roll call.
The board then approved a Musco Lighting equipment/material order through Sourcewell cooperative purchasing for $1,107,694 to supply fixtures, poles and related materials. Shores and the director explained the materials order and the installation bid are interdependent: the board will need both the materials contract and installation to complete the work. Combined, the two items total about $1.56 million; the director said earlier that about $1.5 million had been set aside previously and that the district will need to identify roughly $90,000–$100,000 more and that a TVA energy grant is being pursued that might offset roughly $100,000.
Board members asked whether the district was required to take the lowest bidder and discussed the practical advantage of a local contractor for timely service if lights fail during events. One board member who owns or is associated with a business that bid on the job recused from the vote on the installation contract; the motion passed 8‑0 with one abstention.
District staff said the finance office will bring a budget amendment to cover the combined cost and that work will be scheduled to minimize interference with fall sports and homecoming events.