School board approves advertisement to seek bids for turf at Iota High baseball, softball fields

The school board voted to advertise and seek bids to install artificial turf at Iota High School's baseball and softball fields after a presentation by Jesse Simpson, owner of Simpson Sports Engineering. The motion to advertise and seek bids passed on a roll-call vote. The decision follows a technical presentation from Simpson, who described the firm's role as the owner's representative and the timeline for producing engineering drawings and bid specifications. "I'm Jesse Simpson. I'm the owner of Simpson Sports Engineering, and we're a civil engineering firm, specializing in athletic field construction," Simpson said. He told the board the firm could "have drawings and specs and everything ready to upload in 4 to 6 weeks." The board emphasized scheduling and procurement steps. A board member said the district should "move as fast as we can" and pushed staff to look for any ways to shorten the process so construction would not conflict with the upcoming baseball season. Simpson outlined the procurement steps he expects: producing engineering documents, then a public advertisement period and a mandatory pre-bid. He said the typical advertisement pattern in Louisiana is three consecutive weekly notices and that an ad process can be a 28-day public-advertisement window. He also said mandatory pre-bid meetings are common and the turf industry in the state usually yields three to four bidders representing major manufacturers. Simpson listed common manufacturers and vendors contractors typically use when installing turf, and said the engineering team will: take elevations and topographic shots, prepare drainage plans and analysis, produce a topo plan for bidding, and build technical specifications that reflect the school's product choices. "We're going to grade the fields to be sure that we're utilizing the on-site drainage," he said, adding the firm will direct infield and outfield drainage as part of the design. Board discussion touched on timing and product choice; Simpson said the firm will incorporate coaches' and district-specified product requirements into the bid specs so the winning contractor must meet the district's technical standard for turf and subbase. Simpson also told the board that because turf installation is specialized, the district can typically expect only a few qualified installation contractors to respond. On procedural steps, the board approved a motion to advertise and seek bids for the Iota High School baseball and softball turf project; that motion was moved by Mr. Hebert and recorded as seconded in the meeting. The clerk recorded affirmative roll-call votes from District 2 (Glen Quivittaro), District 5 (Steve Jones), District 6 (Ike Rishard), District 7 (James Higginbotham) and District 8 (Milton Seymour); the motion passed. The next steps are for staff and Simpson's team to complete the engineering drawings and specifications, post the public advertisements as required, and run the mandatory pre-bid as the district directs. The board did not set a construction contract award date; further procurement steps will follow the advertising and bid-evaluation process.