School projects move ahead

After months of discussion, the Del Norte County Unified School District Board has finally pulled the trigger on several decisions regarding Measure A bond projects.

The School Board approved three architects who will design and plan the projects, decided which projects will be done first, and adopted a  local-hiring incentive.

Voters passed Measure A last November, giving the school district the go-ahead to sell up to $25 million in bonds to pay for improvements and modernizations at local schools.

The local-hiring incentive will push contractors awarded school bond projects worth more than $130,000 to hire at least 50 percent of their workers from Del Norte and Curry counties.

A group of Del Norters has pushed the school district to hire local workers to help ease the unemployment rate and boost the local economy.

The Workforce Center and the Del Norte Builders Exchange is currently compiling a list of workers from the local area that contractors will be able to draw from, said Deputy Superintendent Rodney Jahn.

“I’ll know whether they went through the process or not,” said Jahn, who is charged with making sure contractors made a “good faith effort” to hire local workers.

Jahn said the Workforce Center will screen those workers to make sure they have the qualifications necessary to work on school projects and provide them with any training they might need.

Picking the first projects

School Board had to select which projects will be done first from a long list.

Each school in the district will have some type of work done, totaling about $5.7 million, including:

• Improved handicapped accessibility (restroom and walkways) at Margaret Keating Elementary, Sunset Continuation High School and McCarthy Community School

• Improved playground equipment and cushioning at Margaret Keating Elementary

• Upgraded video security and fire alarm systems at Crescent Elk Middle School, Mary Peacock, Pine Grove and Redwood elementary schools; and McCarthy Community School

• Emergency generators and electrical interconnect systems at Crescent Elk, Del Norte High School, Margaret Keating, Mountain and Smith River Elementary Schools and the Maintenance and Transportation Building

• Landscaping and fencing around the high school

• Replacing all data and communication systems infrastructure to have up-to-date technology, bell and public-address systems at all schools

• New gym at Smith River Elementary

Much ado about architects

To plan and design those projects and all the ones that will follow in the upcoming years, the School Board chose three architects: Charles Slert Associates Architects, Siskiyou Design Group and Jeff Mitchell Architecture.

Mitchell, who doesn’t have a lot of experience with schools and the Division of the State Architect, agreed to work on other district facilities.

However, there were concerns Thursday about whether the schools were evenly divided between Charles Slert’s local firm and Siskiyou Design Group out of Yreka.

Slert complained that most of the  projects are going to Siskiyou Design Group, including constructing the brand new gym.

“Phase one is mostly Siskiyou Design Group, when it should be the other way around,” Slert said. “For Siskiyou Design Group this is their backyard; this is my front yard.”

He said he had designed six gyms and multi-purpose facilities.

“Based on experience and the notion of local hire,” he said, “I would  like to see the roles reversed.”

Board member Bill Parker made the point that an architect has to know the local conditions and weather, citing some design missteps at schools.

“The biggest issue we have is a gym — that’s where the big bucks are,” Parker said. “We have to have an architect that understands what we want.”

Jahn said that he feels more comfortable with Siskiyou Design Group because the firm has worked with the school district before and the district has no prior experience with Slert’s firm. In addition, Slert hasn’t directly worked with the Division of the State Architect that has to sign off on design plans for schools, Jahn said, but the other firm has.

“When you have had a successful relationship with an architectural firm that holds a certain amount of value,” Jahn said.

“We will have to find out how the relationship with the other firm works — rather than go whole hog.”

Jim Nelson, a real estate agent with Century 21, said that Slert needs to be given a chance to show what he can do.

“If you’re going to give it two, he said, “you’ve got to be fair.”

Coleen Parker, an assistant principal at DNHS, suggested giving more projects to Slert after he and his team had proven themselves to the school district.

Board Member Tom Cochran agreed with Parker’s idea, adding that there’s plenty of projects to go around.

“This is the first phase, there are others to come” he said. “This is not the last of it.”

Board member Bob Berkowitz said he wanted to see what Slert can do before giving him more projects.

“Let’s get an idea of how well he works with us,” Berkowitz said. “We’ll know more about him in a year than we do now.”

Ultimately, the board voted to stick with its original plan for award the first round of projects to the three architects, with one big exception.

Jahn suggested letting all three architects submit proposals for the Smith River Elementary gym and let the board members chose which design they like the best.

Favoring local contractors

Besides choosing architects, selecting the first bond projects and hiring local workers, the other hot button issue at School Board meetings has been about  hiring local contractors.

At an upcoming meeting,  Jahn said the School Board will discuss giving small businesses a 5 percent variance from the bid price, which could give local companies an edge on being considered the “lowest qualified bidder.”

In addition, local contractors can submit an application to the school district, Jahn said. Qualified contractors will then be put on a list and contacted about projects under $130,000 that don’t have to go through the formal bidding process and be publically advertised.