District 1 board awards construction contract for new elementary school
McCarthy Building Cos. was awarded the construction contract for Yuma District One’s new Dorothy Hall Elementary.
The construction contract was OK’d in a unanimous vote Monday evening at the district board’s monthly meeting. The district is utilizing the construction manager at risk delivery method, in which a construction manager delivers the project within a guaranteed price and specified time frame.
When asked by Superintendent Jamie Sheldahl to speak on behalf of the company, John Kovesdy said “Just simply — thank you. We’re glad to be here.”
The construction company, based out of St. Louis, Mo., has done work for Yuma Union High School District and Yuma Regional Medical Center. It’s currently renovating portions of Kofa High School. Construction on the school is set to start this summer, with a completion date of July 2019. The estimated budget for the school is $9 million, according to proposal documents. Chris Thompson of Thompson Design Architect is the designer.
In other action, the district honored 26 of its retiring staff during the meeting. Board President Karen Griffin thanked the retirees.
“Congratulations,” she said as the last retiree received a “high-five” from the board and administrators. “I was thinking as you all were walking by on the amount of experience that is walking out the door. It’s kind of scary, but whatever you plan to do enjoy it, have fun, and come back and see us once in a while. We appreciate all your hard work. Thank you.”
The district also honored its volunteers. Sheldahl said the committee wished they could honor more with the Volunteer of the Year award. “Let me say how impressed and appreciative I am of the sheer number of volunteers that we have in our schools in District One. We’re very blessed to that kind of support,” he said.
The award was presented to O.C. Johnson volunteers Cory and Samantha Seward.
“The Sewards go above and beyond to help make OCJ the wonderful place that it is,” Principal Angela Logan said in her nomination letter.
Griffin also thanked CFO Denis Ponder for his service. Ponder is stepping down after the end of the fiscal year to teach in one of the district’s middle schools.
Ponder reported to the board that the district will be carrying forward a little more than $3 million in maintenance and operations funds from fiscal year 2018, though those funds are earmarked for raises and benefit increases.
“We do have an increase in insurance next year that we can absorb so that there will be no cost to our employees,” he said to a “hallelujah” from an audience member.
“Thank you for that,” he interjected, noting that the funds must also pay for raises the district has decided to give outside of the governor’s plan, the annual increase in the state’s minimum wage, fluctuations that come with current year funding, and any volatility in the financial markets.
“Teachers absolutely deserve a raise, but we have other employee groups that we need to evaluate as well,” he explained.
The reason the carry-forward was a little bit higher than the district anticipated, was twofold, Ponder said. The state gave the district credit for an increased average daily membership of about 70 to 80 kids and the district had some savings from expenses.
“We don’t always spend 100 percent of the encumbrances but we have to assume we will when it comes to carry forward balances just to be safe, and so we did capture some of that money back,” he explained.