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Board declines $44,800 stadium stone-wall change order; directs administration to re-bid work
Summary
After hearing that contractors uncovered deteriorated stone and shale while repointing the SHS stadium wall, the board voted down a change order not to exceed $44,800 and then approved a motion to put the exposed work back out to competitive bid with clarified specifications.
Public commenter Melissa Moore questioned the extent of a contract change that followed a repointing project at the high school stadium wall; she asked whether the district had sought second opinions and whether the change would be more expensive than replacement.
Administrators said the district engaged an engineering firm before work began to review the wall for safety and that a contractor bidding the repointing work later discovered deteriorating stone and shale when removing mortar. The contractor provided a recommended approach and a square-foot contingency estimate; the administration presented a change order “not to exceed” $44,800 to cover replacement of bad stone found during work.
Board members debated whether to approve the change order or to re-bid, with multiple trustees expressing concerns about large variances in the original bid prices. Administrators reported the contractor’s original base bid was approximately $77,814 and that other bidders had quoted as high as $294,000. The contractor had submitted a progress billing for roughly $17,000 for work already performed.
On a roll-call vote, the board rejected the presented change order (vote tally recorded as 3 in favor, 5 opposed). After additional discussion about scope clarity and schedule, trustees then voted to re-bid the exposed scope with explicit specifications and a quick timeline for award; that motion passed on roll call. Administrators said the firm will coordinate engineers’ specifications so that new bidders can see the exposed conditions and submit competitive, apples-to-apples proposals. Administration noted the work timing is constrained because a turf installation and other stadium work are scheduled for late spring and summer.
The board’s decision preserves the district’s option to seek new competitive bids with clarified scope but also acknowledged that rebidding could compress the schedule for contractors and potentially delay turf installation.
The board asked administration to return with revised specifications derived from the engineer’s sounding and to advertise the bid immediately with the expectation of a special or committee voting meeting to award a contract if the bids arrive on the published timeline.
