Cassville School Board approves $1.56 mil. for Intermediate repairs, mitigation
February 8, 2017
Charlea Estes
The Cassville R-IV School Board voted to accept a $1.56 million bid for repairs and mitigation of the Intermediate building that was damaged during heavy flooding in 2015. The school district received two bids and accepted the lower of the two with the advisement of an engineering group and architect group.
The unanimous vote puts the school on track to have the repairs and changes made before the 2017-18 school year starts, with displaced fifth grade classrooms, Title I rooms, special education rooms and the nurse’s office returned to the basement level of the Intermediate building. Those classrooms were moved to existing classrooms in the middle school for part of the 2015-16 school year and all of the 2016-17 school year.
Cassville Superintendent Dr. Richard Asbill said work is to begin between February 27 and March 1 and continue through the spring and summer.
Bids for the project included repair work that will be covered by the school’s insurance policy, approximately 70 percent of the total cost, and mitigation to make improvements that will prevent the school from flooding again, about 30 percent of the total, which will be provided by the school district. While many construction companies requested bid packets, only two returned with a bid. The winning company was Construction Services Group out of Neosho with a total bid of $1,564,168.50. As the project begins to take shape, that total could change slightly as the school makes choices between various options in the construction process.
Up to this point, the school has done all of the demolition and clean up necessary to move forward. When the flooding damaged the classrooms, it permeated the slab in the floor, lifting up concrete and creating cracks, as well as damaging the tile and walls. Existing slabs were demolished and removed by Nabholz Construction. Nabholz took the bid with $139,573 and was completed in June 2016.
During the demolition, Anderson Engineering and Paragon Architects were on site to provide insight and studies to make suggestions on how to mitigate future flooding. After Anderson and Paragon completed their studies, the school offered bid packets to get estimates for the work. Bids came in lower than the school anticipated.
Dr. Asbill said, “I was expecting to hear two and then a comma, but the bids were both under $2 million.”
Prior to the vote between the two companies, Construction Services Group and Bennett Construction out of Lamar, board member Jon Horner asked representatives from Anderson and Paragon if they were capable. He asked, “Do they have a reputation of being able to complete a project of this scale?” Both assured him that they do. The vote to select the Neosho company’s bid was unanimous.
As the project moves forward, the mitigation aspect to prevent future flood damage is laid out in three parts, according to Dr. Asbill.
Asbill said, “This is a really productive opportunity for us to fix what was damaged and mitigate so that it won’t happen again.”
The first phase of the mitigation project is to build an internal drain system in each of the flooded classrooms. Perforated 12-inch pipes will go around the perimeter of the classrooms before the slabs are poured. Those pipes will be fed to a central drain in the middle of the floor.
The second phase is directional boring. Three 15-inch pipes will run under the building and take the water away down to drain at Flat Creek. The classroom drains will be connected to the directional boring lines.
Finally, the school will also have a six-foot diameter concrete perforated pipe that goes 40 feet into the ground outside of the Intermediate building with a pump inside. The pump is designed to kick in when any groundwater seeps into the pipe. Since the well pipe is below the Intermediate classrooms, it will pump water out to the directional boring lines before it reaches the school. If a large influx of water reaches the well, there is an additional drain line to control overflow. Asbill added that, if necessary, two more pumps can be put in around the school.
The system, once complete, will have the ability to remove 1,500 gallons of water per minute.
The school anticipates work to finish by August 1, and classrooms will return to the basement level of the Intermediate for the new school year.
Charlea Estes
The Cassville R-IV School Board voted to accept a $1.56 million bid for repairs and mitigation of the Intermediate building that was damaged during heavy flooding in 2015. The school district received two bids and accepted the lower of the two with the advisement of an engineering group and architect group.
The unanimous vote puts the school on track to have the repairs and changes made before the 2017-18 school year starts, with displaced fifth grade classrooms, Title I rooms, special education rooms and the nurse’s office returned to the basement level of the Intermediate building. Those classrooms were moved to existing classrooms in the middle school for part of the 2015-16 school year and all of the 2016-17 school year.
Cassville Superintendent Dr. Richard Asbill said work is to begin between February 27 and March 1 and continue through the spring and summer.
Bids for the project included repair work that will be covered by the school’s insurance policy, approximately 70 percent of the total cost, and mitigation to make improvements that will prevent the school from flooding again, about 30 percent of the total, which will be provided by the school district. While many construction companies requested bid packets, only two returned with a bid. The winning company was Construction Services Group out of Neosho with a total bid of $1,564,168.50. As the project begins to take shape, that total could change slightly as the school makes choices between various options in the construction process.
Up to this point, the school has done all of the demolition and clean up necessary to move forward. When the flooding damaged the classrooms, it permeated the slab in the floor, lifting up concrete and creating cracks, as well as damaging the tile and walls. Existing slabs were demolished and removed by Nabholz Construction. Nabholz took the bid with $139,573 and was completed in June 2016.
During the demolition, Anderson Engineering and Paragon Architects were on site to provide insight and studies to make suggestions on how to mitigate future flooding. After Anderson and Paragon completed their studies, the school offered bid packets to get estimates for the work. Bids came in lower than the school anticipated.
Dr. Asbill said, “I was expecting to hear two and then a comma, but the bids were both under $2 million.”
Prior to the vote between the two companies, Construction Services Group and Bennett Construction out of Lamar, board member Jon Horner asked representatives from Anderson and Paragon if they were capable. He asked, “Do they have a reputation of being able to complete a project of this scale?” Both assured him that they do. The vote to select the Neosho company’s bid was unanimous.
As the project moves forward, the mitigation aspect to prevent future flood damage is laid out in three parts, according to Dr. Asbill.
Asbill said, “This is a really productive opportunity for us to fix what was damaged and mitigate so that it won’t happen again.”
The first phase of the mitigation project is to build an internal drain system in each of the flooded classrooms. Perforated 12-inch pipes will go around the perimeter of the classrooms before the slabs are poured. Those pipes will be fed to a central drain in the middle of the floor.
The second phase is directional boring. Three 15-inch pipes will run under the building and take the water away down to drain at Flat Creek. The classroom drains will be connected to the directional boring lines.
Finally, the school will also have a six-foot diameter concrete perforated pipe that goes 40 feet into the ground outside of the Intermediate building with a pump inside. The pump is designed to kick in when any groundwater seeps into the pipe. Since the well pipe is below the Intermediate classrooms, it will pump water out to the directional boring lines before it reaches the school. If a large influx of water reaches the well, there is an additional drain line to control overflow. Asbill added that, if necessary, two more pumps can be put in around the school.
The system, once complete, will have the ability to remove 1,500 gallons of water per minute.
The school anticipates work to finish by August 1, and classrooms will return to the basement level of the Intermediate for the new school year.