The Andalusia Board of Education on Thursday approved several additions to its base contract for work at Andalusia High School.
Those additions included:
- Removing a canopy outside the auditorium which once provided shelter when accessing the band room. To replace it would have cost $22,750.
- Replacing tile in the bathroom at the AHS auditorium, which was not in the original bid. Superintendent Ted Watson said the original tile was damaged when renovations began. The estimated cost is $7,300.
- Replacing concrete behind the home bleachers, estimated at $35,000.
- Painting the metal top of the canopy in what will now be the plaza area of the stadium. The base bid contract calls for the existing structure to be pressure washed and the base repainting. The contactor had proposed replacing the canopy at an estimated $109,000, but the board opted to add only $5,000 to $8,000 to have the canopy painted.
- Upgrading to decorative metal fencing for the entire stadium. The original drawings called for this, but when the board asked for the project to be value engineered, more than 300 feet of fencing was calculated as chain link in the base contract bid. The upgrade is expected to cost $105,000.
The measure was approved on a 3-2 vote, with board chairman David McCalman breaking the tie. Board member Amy Dugger was adamant the decorative fencing would be used.
“I mean. We are Andalusia,” she said.
Dugger and David Bryant voted for the fencing; board members Tommy Wright and Walter Wytch voted against spending the additional money.
“It would look nice, but at this point, I think we should hold on that price,” Wright said.
- Adding additional drainage to move storm water runoff from the buildings around the the stadium into the drainage system installed on the field. Last weekend, the combination of heavy rains and the change in drainage patterns caused by work being done on the auditorium and field caused a retaining wall to collapse on the softball field. The estimated cost is $10,000.
- Adding drainage at the far end of the stadium near the football facility. The board was asked to consider adding the draining and doing additional landscaping there at a cost of $50,000. They voted to only do the draining part, and to ask the city to help with landscaping as an in-kind donation.
The board discussed, but made no decision on a scoreboard. Earlier this week, they were told that an immediate decision was needed before the installation of artificial turf begins in May, but that changed this week.
The board is getting pricing and waiting to hear from a potential sponsorship that would fund a video board.