Facilities committee backs hiring Du Bois & King to estimate Spalding High School field project

The Barre Unified Union School District #97 Facilities Committee voted to recommend that the school board allow the Spalding High School Foundation to pay Du Bois and King $32,425 to produce an opinion of probable construction cost for proposed athletic‑field improvements at Spalding High School.

The recommendation follows several meetings to resurrect decade‑old conceptual plans for the school’s fields. Jamie (Facilities Committee member) said the effort is intended to produce a professionally developed cost estimate that the foundation can use to run a capital campaign rather than obligate district operating funds.

Jeff Tucker, the Du Bois and King representative, told the committee the firm will prepare an “opinion of probable construction cost” (OPCC) that inventories each field and amenity, identifies site‑work needs and regulatory constraints, and produces spreadsheet line‑items fundraisers can use: “what we’re being asked to do is to prepare a, an opinion of probable construction cost that the school, the foundation… can use for fund raise,” he said. Tucker emphasized the OPCC is not a design set and is “not a construction bid.”

Committee members pressed the team on scope and assumptions. Tucker said the OPCC will use competitive commercial pricing (not assumed donated labor), rely on existing surveys and soil borings where practical, and include allowances for engineering, permitting and inflation so the foundation can phase the work if needed. He also recommended meeting with the state’s river‑management/floodplain engineer to determine what mitigation the state will allow at the site before finalizing cost assumptions.

Members discussed phasing and timing. The committee heard that raising the fields to mitigate repeated flooding would likely be done in phases, and Tucker said his team will break costs out by element and provide projected costs if construction is delayed by several years. Tucker estimated a three‑to‑four month turnaround on the OPCC after the firm is authorized to proceed, probably closer to four months.

On funding, the committee clarified the immediate fee would not come from the district’s operating budget. Jamie made clear the plan is for the Spalding High School Foundation, not the district, to pay the $32,425 fee if the board approves: “that Du Bois and King will provide services… for the $32,425… and the SHS Foundation, if approved by the board, will pay for” the cost, Jamie said.

The committee voted by voice to forward the recommendation to the full school board for final approval. The committee also agreed to brief the board in the next month so members are aware the study is being pursued. The committee set its next meeting for March 9 and adjourned at 05:50.

What’s next: If the board approves the recommendation, Du Bois and King would begin the OPCC work and the foundation would use that report to organize phased fundraising and, later, any design and construction procurement.