West Geauga board reviews two design‑build proposals for campus water treatment and maintenance garage; Osborne to finish design criteria

The West Geauga Local School District Board of Education spent its Jan. 27 special meeting reviewing two design‑build proposals for a combined water treatment plant and maintenance garage that would serve the district campus, including the middle school, high school and Jug County Library.

Osborne Engineering, serving as the district’s criteria architect and owner's representative, presented a side‑by‑side analysis of the teams. Scott Vura, executive vice president and principal of infrastructure at Osborne Engineering, told the board the Cold Harbor team, with design partner RE Warner, submitted a proposal with no exclusions and included allowances and contingency lines. "They self‑perform the process piping and come with 3‑D piping models to demonstrate constructability," Vura said, a factor Osborne counted as lowering project risk. By contrast, "Higley initially included numerous exclusions — we counted about 42 — and then redlined that down," Vura said, adding Higley later submitted a $190,000 update to its original price.

The consultants emphasized that because the district used a design‑build request for proposals, evaluation focuses on best value and risk mitigation rather than strictly lowest price. Osborne summarized its scoring across 10 criteria (implementation plan, prequalification, relevant experience, schedules, design quality, discipline teams, alternates, process detail, scope characteristics and overall quality). "When you look purely at numbers Higley may appear lower, but we're looking at risk," Vura said, noting Cold Harbor had allowances and schedule float that reduced the chance of later change orders.

Board members asked about schedule, permitting and lead times. A member questioned an 18‑month calendar for the metal building; Vura replied that metal building fabrication and permitting timelines overlap the design period and that a realistic metal building lead time is roughly 15 weeks but the permitting and water‑treatment approvals (county, state, Ohio EPA) drive the overall schedule. The board and consultants agreed the project target was to have the system operational by the start of the 2027 school year.

On project scope, Osborne stressed that the water treatment component must produce potable water and that distribution piping to each building should be replaced to avoid putting treated water into older pipes. The maintenance garage component includes vehicle bays and shared support spaces; consultants explained tradeoffs between a simple storage garage and a full maintenance facility that includes oil/water separation and additional code elements.

Osborne recommended the board allow the firm to complete the criteria‑design work, finalize the bid package, and advertise for bids so the board could consider contracting at its February meeting. Trustee [unnamed in transcript] moved to retain Osborne for the Lindsay Elementary boiler and water filtration criteria and for related work; that motion was seconded and passed by roll call.

Next steps: the board approved contracting Osborne to finish design criteria and authorized advertising/receiving bids so members can vote on contractor award when they have final bid tabulations and clarified pricing. The board did not select a construction contractor at the Jan. 27 meeting.