Mar 18, 2014 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Central Greene School Board approved bids Tuesday for entrance security improvements and the Waynesburg Central High School auditorium renovation project totaling $1,246,940.

A low bid of $353,800 was approved for the security improvements with Waller Corp. Also approved were bids for general construction of the auditorium project from Waller Corp. for $535,800 and an electrical construction bid from R.E. Yates Electric for $357,340.

Not all board members were in agreement regarding the auditorium renovations. The board vote for this project was 6 to 3, with members Roberta Boyd, John Jacobs and Kevin Barnhart voting against accepting the bids totaling $893,140.

Barnhart told the board he was “concerned with the amount of capital dollars the project was going to eat up,” noting there is a roof issue in the districtwide feasibility study conducted by district architects McLean LLC of Pittsburgh.

“I’m afraid this is a want, instead of a need when our monies are tight,” Barnhart said. “I don’t think we’re looking far enough ahead. It’s a huge decision to make. We’re going to spend $1 million dollars and we’ve only had these specs for about a week to think about it.”

Barnhart suggested the board consider doing the project in steps rather than spend the money all at one time. He threw out a possibility of a three-year plan.

“Personally, I think we probably need to take a step back and a deep breath and make sure we have the money to fund this,” Barnhart said.

District business manager Debbie Crouse said there would be about $1.3 million left after these projects in the capital fund balance. Crouse said that amount would drop to a little more than $1 million if the board decides to go forward with a discussed track project.

Jacobs posed multiple questions to district architect David McLean regarding the individual specifications for the auditorium renovations in relation to the bids.

Jacobs asked McLean if the specs for the types of lighting, sound and seating included were so restrictive as to ensure that only one company could fulfill each individual request. McLean said it was not. He used an example of a speaker that could be recessed in order to allow for different sizing. By not recessing it, there was only one company that could fulfill the size requested in the plan.

McLean did note that based upon the seating, lighting and sound system requested there were a limited number of companies who had products meeting the requirements of the district.

Jacobs expressed some concern over warranties from each of these individual companies, noting he didn’t want to see the district two years down the road making out-of-pocket repairs. McLean said there is a one-year warranty on the overall project and he was aware of a 5-year warranty on the seats. He said he would have to check on warranties for the lighting and sound and report back to the board.