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Muscatine board approves $2,494,730 Central Improvement contract; AV and some stage work deferred
Summary
The Muscatine Community School District board approved a $2,494,730 contract award recommendation for the Central Improvement Project and directed future approval of change orders above $25,000 to the board. District staff said several audiovisual and rigging alternates were excluded from the base bid so those upgrades can be staged later.
The Muscatine Community School District Board of Directors voted to approve a contract award recommendation for the district’s Central Improvement Project in the amount of $2,494,730 and reserved approval of any change orders greater than $25,000 for the board.
The action followed a brief public hearing and a staff presentation explaining which bid alternates would be included in the immediate work and which would be deferred. District staff said the bid package was structured so major infrastructure and controls would be installed in the base contract, allowing the district to add audiovisual, lighting and rigging upgrades later when funding becomes available.
“Alternate 3 was the video projects, and then stage lighting upgrades, and stage rigging,” said Chris, a district staff member involved in the project. He said the base bid includes the electrical and controls needed to support later audiovisual and lighting work so those items can be added in stages. “All the electrical, the controls for AV load, the lighting controls will all be done in the base bid,” he told the board.
Chris said alternate 1 (painting the entire venue) and alternate 2 (replacing seating and carpeting in the balcony) were included in the selected scope because it was cost-effective to do them now; more costly items, such as motorized rigging and a full AV projection package, were not included because their material and supply costs came back significantly higher than anticipated. He also said some balcony work is cheaper to do now while other demolition and rigging work is underway.
Board members pressed staff on priorities for completing alternates later. Chris said the project team and an external theater consultant identified minimum elements needed now and confirmed the base-bid infrastructure will make later installations easier and less expensive.
District staff told the board they had recent tests for asbestos and lead-based paint in the auditorium; the tests “came back negative,” Chris said. He also said the project will retain and continue to use the auditorium elevator and that the district will accept community donations and pursue grants to fund some of the deferred work.
The board recorded a roll-call vote in favor of the contract award during the meeting.
