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Bennington board approves precast wall-panel contract, advances funding steps for new high school
Summary
Trustees approved a $5.53 million precast-panel contract and the architectural agreement for the district—s second high school, and discussed a bond-resolution that would let the district sell up to the voter-approved authorization while timing market conditions for lower borrowing costs.
Bennington Public Schools trustees on June 9 voted to award a precast-wall-panel contract for the district—s second high school and approved the architect—s final agreement, while discussing options to time bond sales to market conditions.
Administration reported that three contractors bid on the precast-wall-panel package and the low bid, from Course/Cor(e) Slab Structures, was $5,531,118. The board approved the award by motion and roll-call vote. Superintendent-level staff told the board the pre-bid budget for the package was just under $5.8 million, meaning the low bid came in under that estimate.
District staff also asked the board to adopt a resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of one or more series of general-obligation school building bonds to provide financing flexibility for the project. Administration described a plan to use roughly $10,000,000 from a special building fund for the initial construction phase to reduce near-term interest costs and to delay larger bond sales until favorable market windows. During discussion, a district financial advisor (DA Davidson) said analytics show the best chance of a market interest-rate cut later in the year, but recommended maintaining flexibility rather than timing a single fixed issuance.
The board approved the final architectural contract with DLR Group. Administration said DLR—s fee was set at 5.9% of final construction cost; based on current projections the remaining fee was communicated as approximately $5,134,314. Staff emphasized that if final construction costs change the fee would adjust proportionally.
What happens next: Board members said the district will continue to monitor market conditions and bring future bond-sale decisions back to the full board before any sale. The project will proceed with phased bid packages; staff said the next bid package will cover tennis courts and additional scopes later in the fall.
