Mitchell Board of Education approves rebids for roughly $200K in savings on high school project

Erik Kaufman, The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
Updated ·6 min read

Aug. 14—MITCHELL — The Mitchell Board of Education Monday night approved a series of rebids for parts of the Mitchell High School construction project, netting around $200,000 in savings over the original bid amounts.

The board approved the move by a 4-0 vote, with board member Shawn Ruml absent from the meeting.

"That's very nice to see. That's really good to see because you don't know when you go to a rebid whether the prices are going to go up or come down," said Deb Olson, president of the Mitchell Board of Education, following the meeting. "But to see them come down, I'm very grateful."

The board approved five rebids at the Aug. 14 meeting. Approved rebids included a $519,068 rebid on the gypsum wall systems from Sands Drywall, a $400,500 rebid on the resilient flooring from MCI, a rebid of $1,224,409 on electrical work from Muth Electric and a $97,880 rebid on technology cabling, also from Muth Electric. The rebids approved Monday night were all from the same companies that had won the low bids during the original bidding process.

Those rebids were all increases from the original bids of $479,075 on the gypsum wall systems, $391,850 on the resilient flooring, $897,819 on electrical and $59,609 on technology cabling.

The biggest savings comes from the bid for masonry, which original low bidder J&D Masonry dropped from $1,836,040 to $1,215,490, which netted about $207,046 in savings as of Monday night. J&D beat out two other bidders with rebids of $1,354,440 and $1,379,360 to secure the work.

The Mitchell Board of Education voted in June to rebid a handful of construction items for the new athletic facilities that will be completed along with the classroom and administration areas of the new MHS building.

The board voted in June to rebid the items

after the original bidders said they could no longer honor the initial bids due to price increases that had occurred between the time the original bids were submitted and the public vote on a $17 million bond issue that allowed for the completion of the proposed athletic facilities portion of the project.

Olson said she was pleased to see the masonry bid actually come down from the original bid. That was enough to swing the total toward a savings despite the other rebids actually going up.

"They really took their pencil to it and came up with a good price," Olson said.

A sixth rebid figure came in too late to be included in the board meeting agenda, but it is expected to be reviewed at the Aug. 28 meeting of the board. That bid, for fire suppression, originally came in at $165,940 and the rebid is listed at $179,700, according to documents provided by Puetz Design and Build. The original bid and rebid are from Howe Plumbing.

Without the fire supression bids, as approved Monday night, the district will see about $207,046 in savings. With the expected fire supression bid to be reviewed later this month, that will drop slightly to $193,286, but it is still a healthy amount to save, said board member Terry Aslesen.

Those funds can now go toward other needs in the district, he said.

"It's always good to see the bids come down, and some of them sharpened their pencil and saved a lot of money for the district that we will be able to use elsewhere," Aslesen said.

The board approved the following personnel items:

* The new certified hires of Trevor Krugman, head sophomore football coach, $3,070; Travis Salmonson, freshman assistant football coach, $2,347; Jacey Puetz, seventh grade assistant volleyball coach, $1,589; Darby Deffenbaugh, freshman volleyball coach, $2,271; Katrina Talley, sophomore volleyball coach, $3,212; Christina Siemsen, JV volleyball coach, $4,413; Jordan McKean, seventh head football coach, $2,021; Sterling Dockweiler, freshman head football coach, $3,015 and Amber Adrian, 0.4 FTE EL teacher, $21,400. All hires are effective for the 2023-24 school year.

* The new classified hires of Kate McEntee, paraeducator at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary, $16 per hour at 7 hours daily; Kelly Shonley, paraeducator at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary, $16 per hour at 7 hours daily; Jessica Phillips, paraeducator at L.B. Williams Elementary, $18 per hour at 7 hours daily; Shannon Dolezal, paraeducator at Mitchell Middle School, $16 per hour at 7 hours daily; Amanda Nava, paraeducator at Mitchell Middle School, $16 per hour, 7.25 hours daily; Grisly Escriba Valasquez, custodian at L.B. Williams Elementary, $17 per hour at 8 hours daily; Doris Cordero, paraeducator at L.B. Williams Elementary, $16 per hour at 7 hours daily; Hemily Rivera, general food service at Mitchell High School, $16 per hour at 5.5 hours daily, effective Aug. 8; Michelle Buchholz, general food service at Mitchell High School, $17 per hour at 5.5 hours daily, effective Aug. 9; Haylie VonEye, general food service at Mitchell High School, $14 per hour at 2-3 hours daily; Richard Snook, part-time maintenance worker, $19 per hour at 20 hours per week, effective Aug. 14 and Stephanie Kampshoff, paraeducator at Longfellow Elementary, $16 per hour at 7 hours daily, effective Aug. 14. All classified hires are effective Aug. 16 unless otherwise noted.

* The resignation of Maddie Morgan, paraeducator at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary, effective Aug. 9.

* Changes in hours for Demetrius Wells, paraeducator at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary, 4 hours daily to 6 hours daily; Terri Juhnke, paraeducator at L.B. Williams Elementary, 7 hours daily to 7.5 hours daily and Rachela Dirksen, paraeducator at L.B. Williams Elementary, 7.5 hours daily to 7 hours daily. All changes in hours are effective for the 2023-24 school year.

* The new Mitchell Technical College certified hires of Bobbi Brink, speech language pathology adjunct lab instructor, $4,500; Sara Delaney, speech language pathology adjunct lab instructor, $4,500; Kari Gosmire, speech language pathology adjunct lab instructor, $4,500 and Rebecca Harvey, speech language pathology adjunct lab instructor, $4,500. All Mitchell Technical College certified hires are effective Aug. 21.

* The Mitchell Technical College contract services of Crazy Lady Consulting LLC, consulting for Farm Ranch Management Program, $1,750 per month and reimbursement for mileage, effective Aug. 1.

Also at the meeting, the board:

* Reviewed Mitchell K-12 policy series 100 to 300 on first reading.

* Reviewed Mitchell Technical College policy series 100-300 on first reading.

* Discussed possible dates for school board work session with ASBSD Board Development Director Wade Pogany, tentatively setting a workdate of Sept. 13.

* Heard public commentary.

* Heard board member reports.

* Heard the superintendent report.

The next meeting of the Mitchell Board of Education is set for Aug. 28 at Mitchell Middle School.