Working Moving Forward on School Construction
    By Myrtleann Anderson, Staff Writer ~~ TheMonahans News, January 30, 2007

Architect Monte Hunter was present at the January MWP-ISD School Board meeting to give an update on the district's construction phase of the bond passed last fall.

"There was a few problems at Sudderth," Hunter said.

"The contractors poured the footing a little too shallow around the gym.  The engineers went to work on the problem, and we got it resolved.

"We had another problem with the new classrooms sewer hook-up with the old sewer lines.  The contractors found a solution, which turned out to be better than what we had originally planned."

Bids for the installation of artificial turf at the football field and new tracks for high school and junior high were also discussed.

Donna Garcia made a motion at the December meeting, which was seconded by Bo Rose, to approve the release of proposals for bids to have the turf placed at the football field and resurfacing both the junior high and high school tracks.

According to Hunter, five companies responded to the districts bid proposals.  Arms Building and Maintenance bid was $1,166,400; General Sports Venue $960,293; Hellas Construction $996,353; Texas Sports Builders $883, 352 and Track Masters $1,177,220.

According to Hunter, he and Superintendent Keith Richardson had opened the bids.

"We went through the proposals we received and checked the turf samples," Hunter said.  "Phone calls were made to check everyone's references."

"We went through ranking process," Richardson said "and the company that ranked the highest was Texas Sports Builders."

"We checked out everything," he added, "and the only drawback we found is that TSB is a new company.  It has only been opened for about a year."

Athletic Director Coach Mickey Owens spoke to board members.  "I did some background checks on TSB," Owen said, "because I was a little nervous about them.  We had mainly concentrated on Hellas and Track Masters until the bids came in."

"TSB is a company owned by four guys who used to work for Track Masters, until they split off and started their own business," Owen continued.

"I called several schools where TSB had installed turf, and all the schools were very happy with their work.  They put in a track and turf at McMurry University, when they worked for Track Masters.  I spoke with Jerry Larned, and he was very happy with their work," Owens concluded.

Board members passed around samples of artificial turf and track surfacing that were sent by each of the companies submitting bids.

They were informed that the average lifetime for artificial turf is eight years and four years for resurfaced tracks.

After listening to everyone's opinion and checking and checking the samples, the board approved the bid received from Texas Sports builders.

Hunter told the board it would probably take from 10 days to two weeks before the company could begin construction.

"The junior high track will be done first," he said, "so there will be a track left open.  The turf will be done next, with the high school track being competed last.

In discussing the proposals for the football stadium's synthetic turf, Hunter told the board the project was $121,347 under the budget amount originally proposed, but with the alternates of replacing and enlarging the high jump pad, extending the track chute at the high school track and long jump pit covers that amount dropped down to $90,054 under budget.

"We were surprised to learn we would have to put an asphalt cap at the junior high track," Hunter said, "That was an expense we didn't expect."

The budget proposal for a new field house at the football stadium is listed at $1,079.750.

According to Hunter, adding in the replacement of asphalt paving around the field house, air conditioning to existing workout room and a new weight room, replacing asphalt paving east of stadium, air conditioning at Walker Jr. High School gym and kitchen, and replacing 16-year-old roofing at existing north and south field houses will add an additional $197,398 to the proposed budget.

In closing, Hunter cautioned the board about adhering to the original construction plan for both Tatom and Monahans High School.

He said right now the budget was a little under what was originally proposed.  However he said, any extra additions to the original concepts at either of these schools could push basic bond over budget.

Keyed by Lana S.