The bids are in for Marysville high school stadium project, and it’s up to the board of education to decide which one to take.
At a board meeting Thursday night, Superintendent Diane Mankins announced the bids for the revised stadium plan came in earlier this week.
“The bids were all in line, so that’s the good news,” Mankins said. “It’s much better than last time, so I’m feeling good about that.”
The district’s cost estimate is $5.726 million. Among the bids were Altman Co., $5.47 million; Adena Corporation, $5.528 million; 2K General Company, $5.57 million; Oheil Site Solutions, $5.619 million; Helms Construction, $5.667 million; and Greater Dayton Construction Group, $5.965 million.
With Altman having the lowest bid, Treasurer Todd Johnson said the district will review its references and see if the district will work with the company. He said he believes the district has not contracted with Altman before.
“We can’t really judge based on if we think one company is better than the other… but if the lowest bidder is not deemed to be the most qualified bidder, we can then go to the next one,” Johnson said. “It depends on how the references come back for the lowest bidder.”
Johnson said after references are contacted, a vendor will be selected, and a special meeting formally accepting the bidder will be scheduled. He said this will be scheduled sometime before the February board meeting.
At the November board meeting, the cost estimate was $7.14 million, and Altman placed an $8.86 million bid, the lowest among other bids at the time. However, all of those bids were unacceptable, as they came in 10 percent over the cost estimate.
Johnson said the bid is lower because the scope of the project has changed. He said the school is direct purchasing the bleachers, turf and lighting through the permanent improvement fund, which will be about $3 million.
Also discussed at the meeting was a change in venue for graduation.
Mankins said graduation this year will be held at Battelle Hall in the Greater Columbus Convention Center. She said this decision was made after the district contacted several “larger area venues, churches and things of that nature,” and their prices were not “out of range” for what the district already pays.
“We knew with the stadium project, we would not be able to have it outside,” Mankins said. “Since we kind of created that situation, we wanted to try and find an alternative where we wouldn’t have a limit.”
Mankins said booking Battelle Hall for that day will cost the district $14,000. She said it normally costs $10,000 to host a graduation ceremony at the stadium or gymnasium, as the district has to pay for equipment setup and staff overtime.
She said Battelle Hall was chosen because of the size constraints and lack of air conditioning at Marysville High School’s gymnasium, considering it could rain outside that day and would have to be held inside. She also said it reduces the number of complications that go into setting up for graduation.
She also said Battelle Hall will allow families to invite more people to attend. She said normally, for the stadium or gymnasium, students were limited to inviting four other people to attend. She said Battelle Hall could fit more people, more than 3,000.
“Our thought was, for an additional $4,000, we could host it at this venue and kids could bring as many guests as they could,” Mankins said.
Though space is available inside, Mankins recommended families should book their parking spots ahead of time. Parking could be limited, but Mankins said she was told by the convention center that parking “was not an issue for other high school graduations.”
“They should reserve them ahead of time,” Mankins said. “I wouldn’t wait the day of and try to get it, as there could be other events downtown.”
She said parents will be notified through email, social media and information packets about when to apply for parking spaces, as well as a link to do that.
Also discussed, Johnson said the district is discussing naming rights for the stadium with Honda Marysville Operator Bruce Daniels.
Daniels pledged $750,000 to the stadium project in August. In December, Johnson said Daniels will pay that donation over the course of 10 years, and the first $75,000 will be received when the naming rights contract has been finalized.
Thursday night, Johnson said an agreement has been vetted over the last couple of months, and “both parties are happy with this agreement.” The agreement document states it was made effective Thursday.
Mankins said a team will be assembled to discuss the name of the stadium, and Johnson said that will take place at a future date. He said the board will have final approval of the name once the team meets and comes up with a name.
Johnson said the agreement has been signed by the board and is awaiting signatures from Daniels and other affiliated parties. Once this is signed by Daniels, the district will receive its first $75,000 payment on Feb. 1.
Also at the meeting:
-Johnson said the financial forecast for the permanent improvement fund will end with a higher unreserved fund balance than was previously predicted in October. It was predicted the district would end with a $912,034 balance in 2023, but with certain factors, the new forecast shows the district will have a “safe balance” of $10.9 million.
He also highlighted that in October, it was predicted the permanent improvement fund would end with an unreserved fund balance of $23.07 million in January. Now, that number is $25.94 million.
Johnson said the levy vote helped with that increase, as instead of funds being sent to the bond fund, they’re going to the permanent improvement fund.
He also said there was an increase in $138,000 from state grants because of an increase in enrollment, but it could have been higher because of the district’s capped funding.
“What I like about having these additional two mills… our tax rates went down,” Johnson said. “Even with our new levy and discussion about that, our new tax rates are slightly lower than what they were.”
Johnson continued by saying TIF revenue is going down because it was being put into the general fund.