DECATUR -- The Decatur School Board met in special session Sept. 25 to discuss the safe-room building contract and to hear bids on the sound system for Bulldog Stadium.
The board heard from Jim Mayer in regards to the bids for the construction of the safe room at Northside Elementary. The board voted to award the building contract to Rogers-based Benchmark Construction. Construction is expected to begin sometime in late November or early December, with project completion in May of 2015.
During the school board's regular session Sept. 15, board member Kevin Smith asked the board to consider purchasing a new sound system for Bulldog Stadium and Peterson Gym. Smith cited the poor performance of the current system during the first home game Sept. 5. While everyone was standing for the national anthem, Smith was trying to get the system to work. Finally, after about 10 minutes, Smith was able to get the sound system working. However, it was only loud enough to be heard on the home side of the field.
In the Sept. 15 meeting, the board voted to seek estimates to replace the old system, possibly by homecoming on Oct. 3. The board voted to allow superintendent Jeff Gravette to pursue the new system for Bulldog Stadium and Peterson Gym with a $5,000 spending cap on the project
Gravette obtained three bids for this project based on the spending cap. However, all three bids were well over that $5,000 limit. Willtech was the highest bidder at $17,678. This price included wiring the entire stadium, both the home side and visitor side.
Fitzhugh Communications in Fayetteville submitted a price of $6,936 to do the home side of Bulldog Stadium. All Service Electronic of Bethel Heights was the closest to the limit at $5,788, also for wiring on just the home side of the field.
The board carefully reviewed each estimate and decided that some of the items on each of the quotes were unnecessary expenses for the stadium project. The board asked Gravette to contact the companies to revise their estimates, removing the unwanted features from their quotes.
Smith, who has spent a lot of time in the press box working with the old system, suggested the school system buy just the components the stadium needed and have school maintenance put the system in place. This would save the district money. The school board agreed with the idea and voted to purchase the components the stadium and gym need to insure a good, quality sound during home games.
General News on 10/08/2014