Pending Board of Education approval, the Mehlville School District’s new $6 million auditorium could include all three of its alternates when completed — with roughly $200,000 left in contingency.

Director of Facilities Steve Habeck told the district’s Facilities Committee last week that he will bring the last alternate — sound equipment, loudspeakers, audio mixing and wireless microphones — to the board when it meets at 7 p.m. today — May 23 — in the Administration Building, 3120 Lemay Ferry Road.

That alternate, also known as alternate three, will cost roughly $71,200, according to Chief Financial Officer Noel Knobloch.

Knobloch told the Call the owner contingency, after approval of requisition No. 14, will be roughly $251,000, and the district expects about $18,000 credited to the district from the soil contingency.

If alternate three is approved, Habeck said the auditorium will be completed with all of the district’s initial design specifications.

“We did that as a valued engineering, put (the sound equipment, connecting corridor and the installation of gypsum board) as an alternate …,” he said. “So we can actually obtain what we originally were intending to go after with this auditorium and still have a contingency at that point, roughly around $200,000 … “

Habeck said it would be “an unbelievable thing” for all three alternates to be approved, along with having a “very nice chunk of money” in contingency.

The other alternates — the connecting corridor for $99,000 and the gypsum board for $43,500 — were approved in January.

Habeck also presented the committee with a proposal to issue a $1,884 change order for the auditorium. The change order calls for steel-gate doors around two ladders in the auditorium — one 50 feet, the other 35 feet — that otherwise would not be caged until the 10-foot range.

“It’s basically a flat piece of metal that goes over the ladder and closes, and you can lock it with a padlock or whatever lock we choose so that you can’t climb that ladder unsupervised …,” he said. “Otherwise, you have access to a 50-foot ladder that’s going to get you up to the catwalk, and I think it’s just a big safety measure that we do that.”

Habeck said the ladders are riggings where props can be taken up and down with weights and will be used by people who are trained. A district employee with a key will be present when access to the ladders is required, according to Habeck.

The committee recommended approval of the change order.

An exact cost for updating auditorium security locks has not yet been determined, according to Habeck, though it should total about $8,000 or $9,000.

“In order to lock down this auditorium, we had lockdown devices, but we had them in two separate corners of the building, and there’s two doors on the top it didn’t lock …,” he said. (With the new locking system, you will) take a key, lock it and it’ll lock six doors simultaneously for lockdown purposes …”

The Facilities Committee also discussed the five-year facilities plan. The second year of the plan started with a budget of $917,931, but the board-approved numbers — including contingency — total $948,376 – roughly $30,000 over budget.

However, Habeck said the final amount should be less than $948,376.

Estimates for the third year of the facilities plan total $567,000 with an adopted budget of $880,000. However, Habeck said he expects the current estimate of $200,000 to replace floor tiles at Buerkle Middle School to increase and that he needs a “better number” for the estimated $36,000 cost of stabilizing the libraries at Bierbaum and Trautwein elementary schools. Both libraries, according to the facilities plan, “have experienced settling issues and require stabilizing to prevent further settling.”

Facilities committee member Jeff Clobes suggested combining the replacement of fire alarms at Hagemann and Trautwein elementary schools into year three if there is a “cost-savings opportunity.”

The Hagemann replacement is scheduled for year three, while the Trautwein replacement currently is scheduled for year four.