MEDINA – The Board of Education approved $25,183,948 in construction bids on Tuesday evening for a slew of improvements at all three school buildings, the bus garage, and Vet’s Park. There will also be a new access road between Oak Orchard Elementary School and Clifford Wise Middle School.
The new access road will be built this summer. That bid was approved for DiFiore Construction of Rochester for $4,698,000 and includes reconstructing the junior varsity softball and baseball fields, and also rebuilding the track. The bid also includes an entrance at Vet’s Park, a new press box and bleachers.
The bids overall came in low enough that the district doesn’t need to remove any pieces of the capital project, except for one. The district was interested in having a gate made of Medina sandstone at Vet’s Park. But materials cost about $250,000 and labor would have been another $100,000.
Mark Kruzynski, the school superintendent, said the district couldn’t in “good conscience” approve that much for the gate. Some Medina sandstone will likely be used in the gate, but it will be mostly made of “cultured stone,” Kruzynski said.
District residents approved the $32,588,000 capital project on Dec. 21, 2016. The State Education Department gave final approval to the project with a building permit on Monday.
Other bids accepted on Tuesday include:
• $6,264,300 for general trades, Concept Construction in Elma;
• $1,385,248 for windows, TGR Enterprises in West Seneca;
• $1,157,000 for plumbing, Thurston Dudek LLC of Ontario, NY;
• $2,607,000 for mechanical one, Quackenbush Co. in Buffalo;
• $2,749,600 for mechanical two, Mollenberg-Betz, Inc. of Buffalo;
• $1,864,600 for mechanical three, Hoot Mechanical & Electrical of Lockport;
• $3,770,000 for electrical, Frey Electric Construction of Tonawanda;
• $688,200 for temperature controls, U & S Services of Tonawanda.
Kruzynski said it’s “very great news” that the overall costs are within budget.
The construction projects will be spread over two summers with some work during the school year.
The project will replace 50-year-old windows at Oak Orchard Elementary School, and the school campus will have air-conditioning for the first time. The district is replacing HVAC units with much more efficient systems, Kruzynski said.
Here is a breakdown of the project:
• Health, Safety and Code Compliance: The district will replace aging bus lifts, upgrade the fire alarm systems, door hardware and toilets.
The roof, ceiling panels and wall panels will all be upgraded at the swimming pool.
Windows and a generator will be replaced at Oak Orchard Elementary School. Those windows are more than a half century old.
The project expenses are broken out to an estimated $3,637,300 at the elementary school, $2,562,400 at the middle school, $892,800 at high school, $561,500 at bus garage and $7,000 at concession stand.
• HVAC: All three school buildings, as well as the bus garage, will have HVAC totally overhauled with $4,728,200 planned for the high school, $4,115,200 at the middle school, $4,103,000 at the elementary school and $649,900 for the bus garage.
The district also will add air-conditioning for the high, middle and elementary schools at $285,600 per building or $856,800 total. The HVAC and air conditioning projects will be funded 98 percent by the state. The boilers are all about 25 years old and are nearing the end of the their useful lives. If the district tried to fix a boiler or install air-conditioning outside of a capital project, Medina would have to pay 100 percent of the costs.
• Information Technology: The district wants to move the network operations center from the basement of the district office to Oak Orchard Elementary School. The project will also add fiber optics to handle future needs as Medina moves to more electronic devices and on-line testing.
• Academics/Programs at High School: The project will include upgraded science rooms, renovations in library (by knocking out a wall and expanding to a next-door computer lab), replacing windows and renovating toilet facilities.
A pole barn will also be built for storage for marching band equipment (so no longer have to rent at Olde Pickle Factory).
The gym bleachers will be renovated, and JV softball and baseball fields will be upgraded. There also will be renovations in Ag Classroom and greenhouse.
• Academics/Programs at Middle School: The project includes renovations to the auditorium with stage floor, carpet, houselighting, some lighting and sound, and also some toilet renovations.
• Academics/Programs at Elementary School: The project includes auditorium renovations – carpet, seating, general, and improvements to toilets, new drinking fountains, classroom storage units with sinks, upgrades to the playground, and provisions to abate hazardous materials if any are found inside walls during the construction project.
• Site work for track: The track has already been resurfaced once and patched several times and the state won’t pay for another resurfacing but will aid a reconstruction of the site. The rebuilt track will have six lanes, event area, a scoreboard, and fencing and paving.
• Site work for road from elementary to middle school: A campus road will be constructed between Oak Orchard Elementary and Wise Middle School for bus traffic. The road will be heavy duty for buses.
The project includes demolition, removal and grading, as well as new sidewalks, stormwater management, parking and road lighting, removal of playground and construction of a new one for younger elementary-age students, and restored landscaping.
A new parking lot with room for 70-75 vehicles also will be added.
The $32,588,000 approved for the project includes legal, architectural and engineering costs, which weren’t included in the bids approved on Tuesday.
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