Piedmont School bids come in under budget

The cost of the Piedmont School construction project came in nearly $2.6 million under budget due to a very favorable bidding climate.  All together, the cost to build the new school is $11,578,004.

In a special meeting held Jan. 19, Meade School Board members accepted the lowest responsible bids for the project as follows:

·General construction: J. Scull

·Roofing: Lowe Roofing

·Plumbing: Western Mechanical

·Heating, ventilation and air conditioning: Tessiers

·Electrical: Muth Electric

·Fire sprinkler: Western States

·Food service: Dakota Food Equipment

The temperature control bid won by Temperature Technology will be assigned to the heating contractor.

The alternate bids of paving, air conditioning and food service garage were approved. The alternate of four additional classrooms was not approved, with a majority of the board members feeling the inclusion of those classrooms would be overbuilding.

"We would be spending money for rooms that won't be used for their intended purpose for a long time," said board member Carl Wahl. "That is not a good use of taxpayer money."     

The capacity of the facility, without the classroom alternate, is 624 students - 206 more students than the current K-6 enrollment at Piedmont and Stagebarn schools.  

The sources of funding for the project include American Recovery Reinvestment Act  (ARRA) Recovery Zone Bonds, $1.315 million; ARRA Qualified School Construction Bonds, $5 million; Capital Outlay Reserves, $2.2 million; and Capital Outlay Certificates, $3.2 million. The projected average interest rate is 2.7 to 3.0 percent. 

Click here to view the floor plans, budget and timeline.