The Mehlville Board of Education unanimously approved a bid Oct. 20 to improve the conditions of the Mehlville High School baseball fields.
The board approved a roughly $1.407 million base bid, including professional and contingency fees, with Byrne & Jones Construction to improve the MHS baseball fields. Irregular grading is causing ponding and rut issues on the field. The project involves relocating the ball fields to the upper field, east of the school’s current softball field.
“This would include pretty much a complete baseball field … netting, dugouts, bullpens, fencing, the whole ball of wax pretty much,” Facilities Director Mike Gegg said.
The project will be covered through Proposition S, the April 2021 $35 million no-tax-rate increase bond measure for facility and safety improvements around the district.
Gegg said they estimate that the project will take four or five months once it gets underway.
Prop S update
Gegg also provided several updates on other Prop S projects underway in the district, including the opening of the new Oakville Elementary parking lot.
“It all looks good,” Gegg said. “That project will be wrapping up.”
Both Blades and Bierbaum elementaries have had more significant work on their campuses, with the roofing system and exterior framing being installed at Bierbaum and the construction of the new health offices and other areas underway at Blades. Gegg expects Blades to “be turned over” to the district by the beginning of next year, while the work at Bierbaum will continue through the 2022-2023 school year.
Bernard Middle and Rogers Elementary are delayed due to supply chain challenges for the buildings’ “storefronts”, a particular type of framing system.
Upcoming bids include Bierbaum phase two in January; entrances for Hagemann, Point and Trautwein elementaries in February 2023; and then packages for Washington Middle and Buerkle Middle and John Cary Early Childhood Education Center in May and July of next year respectively.
As of Oct. 20, the district has spent about $6.09 million of Prop S funds, with about $31.18 million remaining. Due to lower interest rates and a bond premium at the time of the bond sale in 2021, the bond ended up funding closer to $38 million in projects rather than the original $35 million.
