The Chargers Stadium is months out from being closer to completion. Set for a completion date of late January/early February, contractors are close to starting the turf.
David Calvert with Machado and Patano updated the board on the project. He said it’s still on schedule and on budget. But, he’s worried about the winter months.
“It’s moving along. We haven’t had a lot of days of rain and that worries me about the winter months because we can have a lot of rain. So, I told them to do as much as you can because you never know,” he said.
He said the base roof has been put on the concession stand and the rafters are up. Calvert said the high lights are all up with work being done on the fourth tower and on the scoreboard.
“Everything that’s high is up,” he said. Calvert said the lights in the parking lot still have to be put up. He said they’re also working on the stands and locker rooms.
He said the sewer and water lines have been installed and the 15-inch pipe has been placed around the field. Calvert said the process of building the field from the ground up will soon take place.
“The process will start within 10 days. You want it to be continuous. You don’t want to start and then it gets mucky,” he said. Calvert said the field has to be in layers to “stack it out.”
Calvert said one idea of having bathrooms in the press box had to be scrapped. “It would cost an extra $50,000 and add three more months to the project for a very limited amount of people. Machado and Patano’s suggestion is to not go with it,” he said. “It was a good idea though.”
He also updated the board on the corridor project at Ackerman Elementary School. The board chose Mills Construction of Gluckstadt. Calvert said each of the bidders went over budget but Mills Construction was still the closest.
“We’ve worked with them before on another project. They’re very diligent and seem to be a pretty solid contractor,” Calvert said.
“How much over budget?” Board President Mike Thomas asked. Calvert said it was about $200,000 over budget, but Business Manager Kenny King told the board the money was budgeted.
Calvert said while work in ongoing, they had to find a way to get the children into the main building.
“We’ll work it out,” Ackerman Elementary Principal Samantha Kelly said.
On the HVAC project at Weir Elementary, District Maintenance Director Anthony McGee said there was a change order because the old HVAC at the cafeteria was sitting on the ground. And when the one was installed, it was also placed on the ground but was supposed to go on the roof.
He said the change order to move it on the roof, which would come with roof work and having to add structural steel to cage it. McGee said it was something the engineer missed.
“It was just an oversight,” he said.
