The Smithville R‑II Board received a detailed bond project update from district construction partners.

Josh Cowell, project manager with Newkirk Novak, said teams are finishing masonry repairs in the gym and have started partial footings and bracing for the Central Commons demolition. “Within the Central Commons area, so we started some partial footings, as well as some of the bracing,” Cowell said, describing foundations and waterproofing completed for the addition and drone photos showing ongoing work.

Project leaders said excavation and enabling work (amendments 1–3) are complete and that Amendment 4 (bid package 2) — covering roofing through finish trades — is out to bid with responses due in mid-December. The district is using a CMAR (construction manager at-risk) approach that vets trade bids for qualification as well as price; the team said that vetting takes longer but reduces downstream risk and increases the likelihood of hitting budgets.

The presenters warned of an unplanned subsurface condition encountered during excavation. The speaker called out a bedrock issue that increased costs and said the amount discussed in the meeting transcript was unclear; staff stated it is an unanticipated cost the team is managing with the contractor and partners.

Designers also presented exterior finish options for the high school, including staining the yellow brick a darker red to unify campus buildings. “We don’t paint it. It’ll change the color of that material permanently,” one presenter said describing the staining process; the team asked the board to consider pricing the full-building stain as an option.

Project managers emphasized schedule confidence: the teams expect the high school addition work to be substantially complete roughly a year from now and plan to bring the next approvals to the board at a February workshop. The board asked questions about bidder coverage, sequencing, and summer renovation work; project partners said they are scheduling pre-bid activity and plan to return with bid results for approval in early 2026.