T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS On the recommendation of district Buildings and Grounds Director Chuck Springer, pictured, and FEH Design, the Marshalltown School Board voted unanimously to award Central States Roofing a project to repair the Marshalltown High School/Community Auditorium roof. A completion date is set for Sept. 15.

Roof leaks leading to roof failure – that’s what worries Chuck Springer when it comes to the Marshalltown High School-Community Auditorium, which he said has needed a roof repair for years.

“In the lobby area, in all of the seating area, even backstage, we’ve got roof leaks,” the Marshalltown schools buildings and grounds director said. “We patch one leak, another leak appears somewhere else; there are just several different areas that are in need, and you never know how bad the failure is going to be in the near future.”

The Marshalltown School Board took one step toward fixing the auditorium roof at Monday’s regular meeting. Members voted unanimously to award Ames and Des Moines-based Central States Roofing the project to repair the leaks and stop the roof from getting closer to possible failure.

The company’s bid was awarded at $143,600; that total comes from a base roof repair bid of $118,400 with an alternate bid of $25,200 for the building’s fly roof. The completion date is set for Sept. 15.

Springer said the district is getting a better bid than in previous attempts to award the project.

Marshalltown Schools Superintendent Theron Schutte said those previous bids were received when the district tried to “piggyback” the roof repair with Phase II.

“We weren’t satisfied at that time with the bids, and wanted to go out separately to see if we could get better pricing,” he said.

Springer said the district is already familiar with Central States Roofing through the ongoing MHS Roundhouse Phase II project. The company is subcontracted to Ball Team LLC for Phase II.

The board also approved repairs to the auditorium’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Two separate projects were awarded to Young Plumbing and Heating of Waterloo for a total of $186,600.

“We have one (unit) that is on the west, and it is the smaller one and this is back-of-house, the stage area; this quote is in the amount of $89,160,” Springer said. “The larger unit on the east provides HVAC to the seating and lobby area, and this is what was initially identified for replacement, and the quote for this is $97,440.”

He said doing both HVAC projects and the roof repair simultaneously makes “very good economic sense,” and added the air system projects are also set for a September completion.

Schutte said the repair to the auditorium’s air system is necessary.

“At the time that we originally bid this, there were grave concerns about at least one of the two (HVAC) units; since then, we’ve had a failure of a unit, have we not?” he said to Springer, who confirmed the failure.

School board member Mike Miller expressed concern that the re-roofing and HVAC projects got a single bid each, rather than bids from multiple companies.

“We’re talking about just under $400,000 worth between these two projects,” he said. “It seems like pretty good work, it’s big, six-figure work, you’d think there would be more than one person interested in that work.”

Miller said he wished the district could award more projects to local companies, adding such actions would align with district administration’s push to strengthen relationships between the schools and local business and industry.

“I think it’s imperative that we do everything we can, and then some, to try and steer this tax money to the people who are actually paying the taxes,” Miller said.

Springer agreed and confirmed that FEH Design, the firm the district is working with on the Phase II project, had reached out to many potential bidders about the projects.

“A lot of the potential bidders are extremely busy right now,” Springer said. “We did, in all honesty, get one bid back for the roofing, one bid back for the HVAC.”

In other business:

• Iowa Jobs for American Graduates (IJAG) CEO Laurie Phelan shared information about the program to the board. She said IJAG works to help at-risk students build leadership skills and prepare for post-secondary life; Schutte expressed support for bringing the program to the district and said the item will come up again at later board meetings.

• A public hearing on the district’s flexible spending account was set for 5 p.m. June 4 at the Central Administration Office, 1002 S. Third Ave. District Director of Business Operations Paulette Newbold said $50,000 in unused Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program funding could be used for IJAG programming.

• The board approved the 2018-19 science curriculum for K-6 students in the amount of $50,490 and the 7-12 social studies curriculum in the amount of $130,341.37. District Director of Instruction Lisa Stevenson presented the curricula at the board meeting earlier this month.

• A public hearing on an amendment to the current fiscal year school budget passed without written or oral comments. The matter was the refinancing of 2011 School Infrastructure Sales, Services and Use Tax Revenue bonds. The refinancing closed in December 2017 and resulted in additional expenditures of $5,416,628.89, which were unknown when the board certified the FY 2018 school budget.

The next Marshalltown School Board meeting is set for 5 p.m. June 4 at the Central Administration Office, 1002 S. Third Ave.

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Contact Adam Sodders at (641) 753-6611 or asodders@timesrepublican.com