Board awards bid for Franklin work

Delphos City Schools

By Nancy Spencer, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Tuesday, June 30, 2009 (8 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Mullenkamp Building Corp., of Celina was awarded the bid to perform the necessary repairs to Franklin Elementary School this summer. The south end of the building, above, has similar structural problems as were repaired in the east wing last summer. The bid packages included a completion date of Aug. 7.DELPHOS —  Delphos City School Board members met in special session Monday evening to award the bid for work on the Franklin Elementary building.
Mullenkamp Building Corp. of Celina was awarded the bid at $38,549.
Three other companies submitted bids. They include: Miller Contracting Group, Ottoville — $61,475; Alexander & Bebout, Inc., of Van Wert — $48,341; and E. Lee Construction, Delphos — $55,747.
Earlier estimates had put a much higher price tag on the repairs.
The bid packages included a completion date of  Aug. 7 for the work to make the south end of the building structurally sound.
Engineers looked at that portion of the building in the spring and found visible cracks at support beam locations. They removed some of the brick facing and found some of the beams were resting on as little as 2-3 inches of support. They told board members they like to see at least 8 inches. They also found a lot of loose brick and other materials inside.
A similar problem in the east wing was addressed last summer. Corners of the end walls were removed and steel I-beams placed at each corner. The foundation was also reinforced to support the added weight.
Franklin Elementary was built in 1960.
Board members also discussed Governor Ted Strickland’s biennial budget and what it will mean for the district.
One budget proposals has the district receiving a 1.8- percent increase for the next two years and another has it only receiving a .25 percent increase for 2009-10 and a .50 percent increase in 2010-11.
Treasurer Brad Rostorfer gave the latest figures for the district’s 5-Year Forecast with the district showing a $95,000 balance at the end of the fiscal year, which falls today; and a $114,617 balance on June 30, 2010. In 2011, the balance is a negative $413,000.
Rostorfer added the figures do include a 25-percent increase in health care costs, which he said is projected.
“We hope all our expenditures come in lower than we have estimated but we have to build in what we think is going to happen, not what we hope will happen,” Rostorfer said.
Board President John Klausing was also concerned.
“We are controlling our expenses, it’s the revenue issues that are kicking us in the butt,” Klausing said.
Superintendent Jeff Price agreed.
“When we look at what we are budgeting, we definitely have to err on the side of budget reductions, not revenue,” Price said. “That could be devastating.”
The district’s Finance Committee will meet at 7 p.m. July 8 to discuss the governor’s budget and how the district will react.
The meeting is open to the public.
The next regular board meeting will begin at 8 p.m. July 13.