Brooksville school project progresses

BROOKSVILLE – The state has approved a construction schedule for the addition-renovation project at the elementary school and local officials are awaiting formal approval of the architect’s contract before they can put the project out to bid.

Town voters and the state already have approved a funding package for the million-dollar project, but, according to Superintendent Mark Hurvitt, the state’s Bureau of General Services still must approve the architect’s contract before they can prepare bid documents.

“It’s not controversial at all,” Hurvitt said Wednesday. “But this is a state project now, and we have to have a state contract. It’s just one more signature we need before we can go ahead.”

Local architect Bruce Stahnke has been working with the town building committee to develop preliminary plans for the project. Approval from the bureau will give him the authority to develop the construction document the contractors will work from.

The $1,069,296 project will include both new construction and renovations inside the existing building. The plan calls for a 41-foot-by-28-foot addition that will house a new library and construction of a separate storage garage.

The state Department of Education already has approved the project and has promised to help fund it as well. The department will provide a $254,000 grant toward the project costs and a 10-year, no-interest loan for the remaining $795,890. The town will make payments of $79,589.04 a year for 10 years, beginning in 2006.

The project schedule approved by the state calls for the construction documents to be completed by Aug. 26 and the project to go out to bid by Sept. 2. The bid opening is set for Sept. 23 and construction must be completed by Aug. 21, 2006. The building should be ready for occupancy by Aug. 26.

The schedule does not include a date for the start of construction, although initial plans have indicated that a portion of the work will be done this fall. The actual groundbreaking, he said, will be negotiated with the contractor once the contract has been awarded.