At its regular monthly meeting Wednesday, July 16, at the CHS library media room, the California R-I School Board discussed the ongoing upgrades and improvements being done as a result of passage of the bond issue in April. The board approved releasing additional funds for the athletic field work and the upgrades and improvements which are ongoing at all three campuses.
Although the term "change order" was used, Superintendent Dwight Sanders commented the term is not exactly accurate in describing the additional costs.
It would be better to describe the additional funds approved in two categories - "final figures" and "situational upgrades."
The "final figures" are those items, such just how much rock would have to be removed to do the construction or put in support piers. "We knew there would be additional costs for some of the work," Sanders said. "We just didn't know how much."
The "situational upgrades" are changes discovered to be needed as the work progressed. One example is the $20,000 cost for relocating the Ameren Missouri natural gas lines from the area the new agriculture building addition and the additional construction on the weight room will be constructed. The weight room with its addition will become a multipurpose building. It was also decided to put both men's and women's restrooms in the weight room addition for an additional $3,000. The original plans were to have a single unisex restroom.
There are additions that were not even considered, such as a 16 foot by 7 foot video board to be part of the scoreboard. That board, estimated to cost $65,000, is being donated by the E.M. Burger Foundation. Two piers to support the video and scoreboard adds about $15,000. Running fiber optics to the scoreboard and the new press box adds about $6,000. The press box will now be covered on the sides for video convenience and the soil must be stabilized. The old pole vault ramp was removed and will be rebuilt at a higher level to avoid standing water.
The concession stand, originally planned to be 1,200 square feet has been redesigned and will now be 1,440 square feet. Because of the rock at the location, it will also be 16 inches above the track to allow plumbing access. The parking lot pavement, estimated at $150,000, will actually be $170,000.
According to Sanders, an additional $188,000 of contingency funds were built in to the athletic budget for the unforeseen and unknown amounts The changes use $106,042.50 of the athletic contingency money, leaving nearly $82,000 available if needed for athletic work.
There were $82,000 in contingency funds built into the budget for other improvements. A total of $59,500 of those funds are now budgeted, including $20,000 for the additional money to pave the parking lot and the cost to move the gas lines.
Altogether, the work appears to be proceeding well, in spite of a few setbacks such as an unexpected heavy rain and the cooler temperatures which have affected some of the work.
The next regular monthly meeting will be Aug 20.