Aurora West USD 129 outlines summer capital projects, cites stormwater, moisture-barrier and scheduling constraints

Associate Superintendent Angie Smith told the Aurora West USD 129 Board of Education on March 17 that the district plans an extensive slate of summer capital projects and has changed procurement methods this transition year while its in-house capital projects manager is retired.

The update covered planned roofing and seal-coating bids, cooperative-purchase (co-op) procurement for products such as gym flooring and bleachers, job-order contracting for bundled work (including solar and track excavation), renovation work at Herget Elementary and West High, and a donor-funded financial empowerment center that will be installed and paid for by a credit-union partner.

"Job order contracting has been pre bid. It's a national contract, and then each state signs on to it sort of like the GSA contract," said Director Pat Schiller, summarizing why the district chose that procurement route for complex, multi-component projects. Schiller said the job-order contracts allow the district to see detailed line-item costing and to negotiate, which district staff said is useful while the construction market and bidder pool are contracting.

Smith said the district will still follow prevailing-wage requirements and other procurement rules. "It's also important to remember that just because we're going this direction does not mean that things like prevailing wage don't apply," she said.

Officials flagged several reasons for higher-than-expected costs on specific projects. At Herget Elementary, Smith said crews discovered the original floor installation lacked a moisture barrier; the district plans to remove the existing surface, install a moisture barrier and then a new floor. "One of the reasons we discovered why the floor at Herget was doing what it was doing is that they never put moisture barrier in on the original install," Smith said.

Stormwater and site grading requirements also increased costs at Herget. Facilities staff said the city asked the district to route stormwater south toward the city discharge point rather than placing detention under the parking lot; that change expanded the required detention work tied to adding the track and new parking.

On West High, most work this summer will be painting the gym and lower cafeteria, removing a partition wall and installing curtains; new bleachers that had been planned for this summer were pushed to spring 2026 because of tighter permitting and scheduling. Smith said the district will ensure a usable football field for fall by sequencing work—either finishing the field before school starts or delaying solar installation until after football season if needed.

The Red Field House and Herget will receive new, non-wood athletic-style flooring similar to other district facilities, playground expansions tied to two added classrooms at The Walk building will proceed, and some interior finish work on The Walk’s third floor will convert open spaces to classrooms and a multipurpose room.

The district described the financial empowerment center as a donor-funded build-out paid for by the credit-union partner (referred to in the meeting as CCU). The center will be located at the high school, be accessible only to people inside the building, include an ITM (a video-enabled teller machine accessible to staff and students), and be used for internships, financial education, and scheduled appointments. The credit union will fund construction and coordinate security of cash pickups; the district will assist with design choices and scheduling.

Smith said the district is in a favorable budget position and is aiming to obligate or pay for a number of projects before June 30, 2025, while preserving standard payment controls: "we always make sure that we're not paying for things before they're delivered or paying for things before the work's done. We don't wanna ever give up that leverage."

Board members asked about contractor oversight following the retirement of the district’s former capital projects manager; staff said bundled job-order contracts provide shared superintendent oversight and may reduce duplicate construction-management layers across proximate projects.

Next steps outlined by staff include finalizing negotiated prices under the job-order contract, completing permit approvals that are subject to regional offices and city review, scheduling work to avoid major disruption to fall athletics where possible, and bringing order-specific bids or award recommendations back to the board when required.

The board received the update as an information item; no formal contracts or awards were voted at the March 17 meeting.