The Trenton R-9 Board of Education approved the project bid from Lawhon Construction Company of Saint Joseph and all alternate bids at a special meeting on Wednesday morning.
The base bid from Lawhon was $6,275,000 and the total bid with alternates was $6,608,500. The alternate bids include the S. M. Rissler office expansion, stage storage room at the high school, veneer vo-ag corridor from the performing arts center to the Ag Building, a vinyl fence around the walk-in cooler/freezer at the high school, performing arts center entrance upgrades, corridor wall protection, and finish upgrades.
Building Project Liaison Dennis Gutshall noted some of the alternates were added after the bond issue was approved. Lawhon was the lowest of the bids submitted.
Jeremy Proctor with Ellison-Auxier Architects, Incorporated of Saint Joseph said Lawhon was the contractor for the Ketcham Community Center on the North Central Missouri College campus in Trenton and recently finished a project for the Chillicothe R-2 School District. He recommended the board approve Lawhon’s bid.
Gutshall said he looked into the subcontractors for the building project, and the most local would be Roberts Roofing from Chillicothe.
Other project bids were submitted from Allison Alexander, Incorporated of Riverside, Lee Grover Construction Company of Saint Joseph, and PSR Construction Incorporated of Kirksville. They ranged from $7,179,756 submitted by Lee Grover, to $7,439,000 submitted by Allison Alexander.
Gutshall said the three low bidders have all done work for North Central Missouri College, noting that the bids on soft costs came in about $120,000 less than the budget estimated by Ellison-Auxier.
Trenton R-9 will now enter into what Gutshall called the “contract phase”, and the district will have to enter into a contract with Lawhon for the work. Proctor said the contractor will probably be seen on-site in mid or late September.
Gutshall said it would probably be October before dirt is moved for the performing arts center. Some work may be done on the concession stand after the football games are done for the season.
