PEA RIDGE — The reality of a multi-purpose facility took one step forward when School Board members approved school superintendent Mike Van Dyke’s recommendation to let the project out to bid at Monday night’s board meeting with a new construction manager.

The $2.2 million project, begun as a football practice facility, has been discussed in community committee meetings and school board meetings, has gone through two construction managers and been the topic of several special School Board meetings. The name of the facility was changed and plans include the use of it by students from many activities, including football, baseball, basketball, cheerleading and band.

Nabholz was selected as construction manager after representatives from three firms were interviewed, but when Nabholz was unable to meet the board’s criteria for the budget, their contract was terminated by a vote of the board at a special board meeting Nov. 23 and then on Dec. 6 by a letter from Van Dyke to Greg Fogle, executive vice president ofoperations for Nabholz Construction Corporation, to give “notice of termination of the agreement to build an indoor practice arena.”

During the past year, school board members heard from Jim DePaul with Universal Fabric Structures about a fabric structure for the facility and had, at one point, determined to build the fabric structure and construct a two-story building at the end of it. Those plans were the ones Nabholz was given, and could not provide at the required budget at the size requested.

Steve Elliott, architect for the school, presented the newest setof plans to the board Monday night telling the board that it was determined that the fabric structure bids had varied with each communication and did not include turf and was therefore not as inexpensive as they’d been led to believe.

“One of the things that kept ringing in my ears was ‘be creative’ and ‘think outside the box,’” Elliott told the board referring to the last meeting he attended when reducing the cost of the facility was discussed.

Elliott said he has several letters from De-Paul reflecting different information, and that the cost would actually be $32 per square foot instead of the previous $25 per square foot presented by the first proposal. He said he would like to prepare the specifications to include a building 240- by 160-feet and provide an alternate bid with reducing the size to a 200-by 160-feet building.

“Winter is usually a better time to bid,” Elliott said.

Hank Johns, vice president of estimating for Baldwin & Shell, said: “We haven’t bid anything yet ... a 160 by 200 will put you right at $2.2 million.”

One concern expressed by board members and discussed with Elliott and head football coach Tony Travis was the ceiling height, which had been planned as 62 for the fabric structure but would be around 30 feetfor the metal building.

“Putting and kicking aren’t something we would have done inside anyway,” Travis told the board. “I think a 30 foot clearance is fine.”

“I feel comfortablewith a metal building as presented by Steve and Baldwin & Shell,” Van Dyke told the board.

“Let’s get it out to bid.”

Elliott said if bids are let by Jan. 3, the project may be completed by August.

Board members Jenny Wood, Ann Cato and Josh Ramsey were present with board members Rick Webb and Darin Wright both absent.

In other business, the board:

◊Approved the transfer of two students - Joshua Johnson and Lauron Hey - out of the district into Rogers schools;

◊Accepted the resignation of Amy McDowell, school nurse at pea Ridge Middle School;

◊Approved the purchase of new computers for the high school business lab and intermediate school for $27,882.

News, Pages 1 on 12/15/2010