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Northwest Local board approves GMP amendment to build weight and wrestling rooms, delays annex pricing
Summary
The Northwest Local Board approved GMP amendment No. 1 to proceed with a high‑school weight room and wrestling room construction package; the district deferred the annex/arts storage for separate pricing and will return with amendment No. 2 after subcontractor line items are separated.
The Northwest Local Board of Education on Dec. 16 authorized a guaranteed‑maximum‑price (GMP) amendment to move forward with the high‑school weight room and wrestling room while pausing the annex/arts storage until subcontractor costs can be separated and reviewed.
The action, described to the board as "GMP amendment number 1," covers the athletic portion of the high‑school addition. During discussion district staff said amendment number 1 was $4,110,921 for construction, and the project documentation listed a related total‑project figure reported at roughly $5.0 million (document excerpt provided at the meeting). The board approved the motion by roll call.
Why it matters: Board members had previously discussed keeping the total project near an $8.0 million target; staff said design growth and selected alternates pushed a prior estimate toward $8.7 million, prompting the district to break the work into phases so immediate construction stays within the board’s current comfort level.
Presenter comments and contingency: The district said separating the bids will let staff and the construction manager (Regency Construction was named in the recommendation) move forward with the athletics package now and return with a second amendment for arts/annex pricing after trades re‑price their scopes. A presenter summarized the amendment and told the board, "With this amendment number 1, which is $4,110,921," adding that architecture fees, contingencies and other owner costs are included in the larger project total. A project representative explained that a 5% contingency is built into the budget to cover unforeseen conditions (examples given: unsuitable soils, latent conditions and owner‑requested changes) and said unused contingency could fund alternates or finish items later.
Board concerns and timeline: Several board members pressed staff for clearer line‑item detail on what drove the jump from earlier estimates, asking whether the art storage or other alternates were the primary driver. District staff said the annex/arts work was not canceled and would be returned to the board once subcontractor bids are separated; the superintendent said the district hopes to break ground on the athletic portion Feb. 2, pending final contracts and negotiations.
What’s next: Staff said it will return in January with separated line items and formal documentation for amendment No. 2 (arts/annex) and that the superintendent and treasurer are authorized to finalize and execute amendment No. 1 upon satisfactory negotiations. The board’s vote carries the district into the construction procurement phase for the athletic scope.
Quotes
"We promised the board that we would stay at 8,000,000. It got over to 8,700,000," the superintendent told the board when explaining why the district split the work into phases.
"With this amendment number 1, which is $4,110,921," the presenter said when summarizing the construction cost shown in the meeting materials.
"There's already 5% kind of built into that $5,000,000 number," a project representative said, describing how the contingency will be used.
Ending
District staff will return to the board in January with separated subcontractor pricing and a recommendation for amendment No. 2 for the annex/arts work; the district said it will seek to finalize contracts to meet the hoped‑for Feb. 2 ground‑breaking for the athletic scope.
