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MILL HALL -- Inflation has caused the Liberty Curtin Elementary School building project to hit a slight snag.
The Keystone Central School District Board of Directors heard from Jeff Straub, of Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Assoc., regarding recommended bids for various parts of the construction process.
The board will consider approving three bids for the project that include:
-- Lobar, Inc., of Dillsburg, Pa., for $13,211,600 for general construction of the new Liberty Curtin building.
-- Hosler Corp., of Berwick, Pa., for $2,898,300 for mechanical construction of the building.
-- Hallstrome-Clark Electric, Inc., of Dubois, Pa., for $2,670,700 for electrical construction of the building.
The costs would be paid for using a combination of two series of long-term financing combined with cash from the General Fund Balance 10.
All three of these bids came in over budget to a certain extent, Straub said, however that was due mainly in part to the "unprecedented" escalation of construction costs in the United States.
With the acceptance of these bids, Straub said the project would come in at about 10 percent over budget.
Straub said the percentage would be higher if the board were to accept its loan bid for plumbing construction at Liberty Curtin.
Crabtree is recommending the board reject a bid from Wayne Crouse, Inc. of Pittsburgh, at a cost of $3,790,000. According to Straub's figures, this bid came in at 148 percent over the budgeted cost.
The inclusion of this bid would bring the total projected costs nearly 12 percent over budget, he said.
"The escalation of costs has been unprecedented in the United States... historically high. That's what we're dealing with," Straub said.
Straub said he spoke with other plumbing contractors who expressed interest in placing a bid. The contractors told him they were unable to place a bid by deadline due to subcontractors not providing cost estimates.
Crabtree hopes to rebid the plumbing portion of the project and come back with a better figure.
In the meantime, Straub said the firm -- in talks with district officials -- recommended the board consider cutting back on some of the project's "soft costs" to reduce costs.
Straub noted the district could pull $250,000 out of these costs and place them into construction costs.
The funds are slated to be used for documentation processes that can earn the building LEED Certification.
"This doesn't mean the building will change. Just documentation of processes," Straub said.
Superintendent Dr. Jacquelyn Martin backed up Straub's statement, noting the administration agrees with the recommendation.
"It would be the same quality, we'd just forgo the process for LEED certification," she said.
Multiple members of the board agreed with the assessment.
"I think we can kick it back to Dr. Martin and the administration team and see -- they're preliminary numbers -- if we can find ways to pare it down," member Jeff Johnston said.
Martin noted the administration and Crabtree were in that process.
Both Martin and Straub noted the hiccup with finding a contractor for plumbing wouldn't derail the project's tentative completion date of August 2025.
Martin encouraged the board to keep with this timeline as well, noting the project has been in the works for some time.
"We've kicked the can down the road with this project," she said. She noted the project was slated for construction in 2021, however the COVID-19 pandemic created roadblocks.
The board will consider accepting these contracts, and rejecting another during its voting session at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 9. The meeting is held in the administrative meeting room and available to view via Zoom by visiting the district's website -- https://www.kcsd.us/.