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School board approves $252,535 security upgrades funded by safety grant
Summary
The Las Animas (Waterville) school board approved a $252,535.77 contract for visitor-management and card-access upgrades to be paid from a school-safety grant; staff said the work will be phased to meet grant drawdown deadlines and include visitor screening features.
The Las Animas School District No. Re-1 board voted Feb. 24 to award a contract for visitor-management and card-access upgrades using an available school-safety grant.
The board approved moving forward with the vendor recommended by staff and the district evaluation team and capped the award at $252,535.77. Staff said the project is divided into phases to prioritize critical doors and rekeying and to ensure the district can draw down the grant funds by the stated deadline.
District staff described the system as including card-access upgrades for interior and exterior doors, visitor-management kiosks tied to driver-license checks and sex-offender database screening, and reporting features that can produce a list of visitors on site during an emergency. Staff said recurring costs for the system are modest and cited an example recurring estimate of about $2,750 per year for hosted services.
Superintendent Toby Melster and staff emphasized that the recommended scope was shaped by a committee that compared competing bids and that the chosen vendor’s proposal best matched the district’s needs and the grant timeline. Staff also said the grant (Office of School Safety funds) required written contracting to allow drawdown of funds and potential phased completion of some work after drawdown.
Board members asked about emergency access and lock/key contingencies if the system is offline; staff said the scope includes rekeying and options such as a secured mechanical key box for first responders and other mechanical fallbacks.
No substantive procedural objections were raised before the roll-call vote to approve the contract at the capped amount.
What happens next: staff will finalize contracts per the bid and begin planning phased implementation with vendors and maintenance staff. The district will report on expenditures to the grant administrators as required.
