Boyne City board hears bond timeline; architects aim for 2026 construction starts on major packages

The Boyne City Public Schools board on Monday reviewed a high-level schedule for bond-funded projects that were approved by voters last year, with consultants saying early bid packages and construction could begin in 2026.

Evan, the district's primary contact from Bartimello, told the board "This is a very high level overview" and outlined a sequence of bid packs: athletics and lighting first, then high-school additions (culinary and CTE), followed by the elementary addition and renovation and later "Pack 6" deferred or athletic work. He said some dates are subject to change as the team finalizes design and construction schedules.

Why it matters: the bond covers improvements across the district's high school, middle school, elementary school, athletic facilities and CTE programs. During Q&A the board pressed the team on timing for stadium work; consultants said they will include a contractor completion date in the bid form (an early-August target was discussed) to allow time to test press-box systems before fall events.

Evan said the project approach depends on bid-pack closeouts and contingency management: "every time we close out a bid pack, we will then know the contingency that's remaining," and leftover contingency may be reallocated to deferred work later in the program. The consultants said schematic-design (SD) documents have been provided to estimating teams and that more refined design-development (DD) documents are targeted in future months, after which the district will receive more accurate cost estimates.