Battle Creek High contractor approved, sets stage to begin site work

Maury County Public Schools learned Tuesday that owner advocate company, Hewlett Spencer, LLC would not be picking up the future Battle Creek High School project, approving a contract instead with Smith Constructors Inc. to begin site work.

At the end of more than an hour of discussion during the special-called school board meeting, the vote for the new contract with Smith Constructors Inc. passed, 7-3, with some board members expressing doubt about greenlighting the project.

The vote gives the board access to funding an early release package in the amount of $9,916,000, just a portion of the total amount needed to fund the $74 million-plus school construction project.

Smith Constructors was the lowest bidder, according to the contract by project architect Kline Swinney.

Superintendent of Schools Lisa Ventura and Director of School Facilities, Eric Perryman spoke of the urgent need to pivot quickly from the dissolved partnership with Hewlett Spencer LLC on the project.

Jamie Spencer of Hewlett Spencer commented about the firm's past involvement with school district projects. The company was involved in constructing Battle Creek Elementary School and Battle Creek Middle School.

"We have had a wonderful working relationship with the MCBOE since we were hired in December of 2014," Spencer said.

"The Board has, on several occasions, renewed our hiring to be their Owner’s Representatives under the provisions of TCA, Title 12 in managing their large and small construction projects. We have appreciated and enjoyed that working relationship and we intend to continue as long as the Board will permit us. The Board has decided to approve an Early Release Package of site work for the new Battle Creek High School under the provisions of Title 49, which they have an absolute right to do. Hewlett Spencer would never 'walk away' from the Battle Creek High School project, nothing could be further from the truth.  We have too much time invested in the work on that campus over the years having managed both Battle Creek Elementary and Battle Creek Middle School. The knowledge and experience our construction team possess on this project would have been highly valuable moving forward on the new high school."

Growth needs to be addressed quickly

Ventura said some schools were almost to the point of having to consider using auditoriums as classrooms.

Hewlett Spencer chose not to bid on the Battle Creek High project, according to Ventura, though Jamie Spencer with Hewlett Spencer said Perryman had decided not to go forward with their services.

No additional detail was available as to why the partnership did not continue but school board chairman, Michael Fulbright said Wednesday that while Hewlett Spencer had worked hard and worked well for the district on previous schools, it didn’t work out this time.

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Some new board members were worried about funding a project that was not fully planned out, but district leaders emphasized that other schools across the state fell subject to the same procedures and processes.

Perryman assured the board he shared some of the same logistical concerns for the project, saying the school should be built before it resulted in further cost to tax payers due to increasing building costs.

Although a $74 million bond was approved last year by the Maury County Commission to construct the school as well as other district capital projects, rising construction costs could result in a higher price tag for the high school.

To build what was originally planned, the cost of the structure is estimated to range between $96 million and $102 million, school leaders said at various meetings last spring.

Perryman said the last four schools built in Maury County came with plenty of meetings to make sure everything stayed “on target” for the project plans.

Part of the criticism from new board members included the lack of a gross maximum price, but Perryman rebutted that the fee associated with a GMP on a building of this size was large in itself.

“We’ve met more about this design than every one of the other projects in total,” Perryman said to board members. “We’ve been careful in how we’ve chosen everything from doors to counters.”

Perryman then assured the board that any changes that arise after the start of construction would be worked out with the architect, then district staff, adding that the school would not be built to be “pretty” with bells and whistles but to solve the need of a new building.

“As we do on projects in other buildings, we follow the same procedure,” Perryman said.

Bart Kline architect with Kline Swinney told the board that the site would have its own dedicated project manager and follow the letter of the contract.

“This is a typical arrangement,” Kline said.

Traffic concerns growing

District 1 Board Member Kristen Shull shared her concerns that traffic movement would become even more difficult at the Battle Creek site, which includes Battle Creek Middle, which opened in 2019.

Perryman acknowledged the problems of traffic around the county, not only at Battle Creek, and explained that county road improvements fell to the commission to address.

“There is a bad flow,” Perryman said, “We are aware we need to address the middle school [traffic] and how it flows and make specific changes for car drop-off and riders."

Perryman said it would likely take conversations with the county highway department, but the site for BCHS was locked in due to the location of a nearby hill and flood plain.

“We fight traffic everywhere, and our biggest problem is probably at Woodard,” Perryman said. “So we understand traffic flow issues.”

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Perryman said the district was not passing the buck. “We can only go so far. At some point it becomes another body’s response,” he said.

Pricing for the project depends on timing

There is no way to know the [full cost] until you receive a bid,” Perryman said. “We had to get a package out to get the land ready in order to [get the next bid].”

Sitting on 49 acres, MCPS has the task ahead of preparing the site to make it build or “pad ready.”

Ventura presented additional rationale for needing to get the project going.

“Remember this is a high school,” Ventura said. “If we don’t get on this, we won’t open until August 2025.”

Currently BCHS is expected to be open in August 2024.

“When you’re talking about athletics, graduation … the last thing I would want to do is open a building in the middle of a school year, Ventura said. “It’s really important to open in August,” Ventura said.

New board member Steve McGee was concerned about releasing funds before a full cost was known for the project.

“It seems like we are putting the cart before the horse here,” McGee said. “We’ve been having trouble getting impact fees, and you’re asking us to spend money on something we don’t know the cost on the back end.”

“I have trouble with that,” McGee said.

Kline responded, acknowledging concerns but implored board members you to go forward with a little faith.

“The reason there is confidence is that we have our hands on many projects across state and schools are bidding every month,” Kline said.

Perryman added that the district is only looking at increases in cost going forward but that they will not stop building schools because the need will continue to increase as well.

“Believe me, I’ve spent more nights not sleeping because of this project than anything else we have gone through,” Perryman said. “If we delay, it will cost citizens of this county millions more.”

The plan for the early release package moves forward to the Spring Hill city council next month as a formality for any changes they want to request.

Check back with The Herald for more on this story and other school facilities updates.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Battle Creek High contractor approved, sets stage to begin site work