Cape Girardeau School District to award Jefferson project bid in June

Cape Girardeau School District superintendent Neil Glass said Tuesday the Board of Education will award the contract for the estimated $11.3 million Jefferson Elementary civic center project at its June 28 meeting.

Glass said May 25 is the target date for advertisement for bids, including requests for proposals (RFPs) to contractors.

A mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held, the superintendent said, to go over design documents with those interested in building the civic center on the city's south side.

"We've gotten a pulse on the bidding climate and it's showing a 10% to 15% increase in our estimated cost," Glass told the school board at its regularly scheduled meeting Monday.

The largest single price tag in the project is a $5.4 million aquatic center.

In September, Glass told the board school administrators had moved away from a canvas covered sprung structure for the pool similar to the Central Municipal "bubble" in favor of "bricks and mortar" housing he said could last 50 years -- but adding $1 million to the overall cost.

Glass told the Southeast Missourian the project's big question mark continues to be the skyrocketing prices of building materials, creating what he calls a "volatile" environment for bidding.

"We want to find some value engineering where we could stay with the bricks and mortar (pool construction)," said Glass, superintendent of schools since 2017.

Asked for an example of value engineering, Glass offered a hypothetical case.

"We might bring down the height of the roof, for example, from 18 feet to 16 feet," he said, noting a two-foot difference would mean less steel would be needed to support the structure.

"That sort of engineering could make a difference to the bottom line," he said, adding reverting back to a less-expensive sprung structure is a "last resort."

American Rescue Plan (ARP)

A possible source of funding help for the Jefferson project may be the City of Cape Girardeau, which is slated to receive $7.47 million in two installments from ARP, also known as the COVID-19 Stimulus Package.

President Joe Biden signed ARP into law March 11 with the announced goal of speeding recovery from the economic and health effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Incoming Cape Girardeau city manager Kenneth Haskin declined to comment when asked last week whether the city might be able to use ARP funding to help with the Jefferson project, noting the federal government has not given guidance on how the money may be spent in a community.

"If some of that money can be utilized to give us the kind of facility we need and want (at Jefferson), then I'd be all for it," Glass said.

History

The school district and the City of Cape Girardeau previously reached an agreement on a two-pool plan -- the new Jefferson pool and renovation of the existing municipal "bubble" pool.

In April 2018, Cape Girardeau voters approved a parks/stormwater tax, which included funding for an indoor aquatic center.

In April 2019, school district voters approved a bond issue to raise $4 million for the aquatic project.

In September, Glass said $2 million in district's capital project money could be tapped, although he said he would be "comfortable" using half of it toward the civic center, even taking the balance down to $500,000, if necessary.

The capital project monies, Glass acknowledged then, are normally viewed as "rainy day" funds by the district.

In previous comments to the Board of Education, Glass said if money runs tight on the total project -- meant to "closely resemble" the Southeast Missouri State University recreational pool -- the district can "a la carte" certain pieces of the plan.