Barren County Board of Education discuss renovation and construction bids and change order

By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1

The Barren County Board of Education held a special called meeting, rescheduled from its usual second Thursday monthly schedule so it wouldn’t fall on the same day classes begin, at the Barren County High School to discuss renovation and construction bids, approve a change order on construction of a scoreboard and approved three contracts.

When everyone had gathered in the media center, the official business of the Board commenced. It began with comments from Superintendent Bo Matthews saying he was excited about the upcoming school year, scheduled to begin for K-12 students this Thursday, Aug. 10.

“Every year we try to raise the bar and I think it has been raised,” Matthews said. “I’m excited, I’m confident about the school year that we’re embarking into.”

Craig Thomas with RBS Design Group and Tommy Gumm, board chair at Alliance Corporation, presented to the Board unofficial figures for the construction and renovation bids for the various project underway, or planning to be in the future, at the Barren County Schools. Projects like the slaughter house, the baseball press box, resurfacing of the tennis courts, and a new HVAC unit and roof on the district’s College Street campus.

The pair presented the Board with the “base bids” as well as with “alternates,” essentially things they could add on extra depending on the Board’s decision.

Gumm, after Thomas spoke on all the bids and alternates, said the Board would likely need to meet at a special called meeting some time next week to approve the bids so they could get started as soon as possible. That meeting has not been scheduled yet.

“What the board has got in front of them now is how much we do within the renovation project,” Matthews said. “Money is not infinite…there’s an amount of money that’s in the building fund that they have available to them and they have to decide how much they want to spend.”

Matthews did say that the renovation to the baseball press box, and other necessities for the baseball players, would likely be finished by the coming February in an effort not to interfere with baseball season.

“We do not want to interrupt another baseball season with work,” Matthews said.

Gumm also had an action item for the Board’s approval at the meeting. According to the agenda, Gumm needed approval on change order #006 which is $8,303.40 for “cost associated with excavation and installation of beams in concrete for scoreboard foundation.”

That order was approved unanimously by the Board.

Also on the agenda were the approval of three contracts, a physical therapy contract, an occupational therapy contract and a contract with Glare Control Inc. and disposal of surplus property including playground equipment and old textbooks. It was also mentioned that the district’s new buses had arrived and they had consolidated some routes in order to decrease traffic on Trojan Trail.

All items on the agenda were approved by the Board with no discussion. To view the full agenda click here.

During the meeting members of the Board, faculty and staff along with numerous others gathered outside for the groundbreaking of the new art museum at Barren County High School. Glasgow News 1 will have more detail as well as the event in a separate article to be published later today.

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Barren County Schools Board of Education to approve contracts, change orders and hold groundbreaking on new art museum