South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Lindbergh board OKs bid for Prop R work at Crestwood, Long

Fabick announces her intent to resign from Lindbergh board, effective May 20.

The Lindbergh Board of Education last week voted to award a $6.37 million contract for work at Crestwood and Long elementary schools being done as part of the district’s Proposition R 2008 bond issue.

Board members voted unanimously May 11 to award the contract for $6,374,000 to Tri-Co Inc. Commercial, the low bidder. Work will include the construction of additions at each elementary school and improvements to the front entrances at each school, according to Executive Director of Planning and Development Karl Guyer.

District voters approved Proposition R 2008, a $31 million bond issue, in November 2008. The board had placed Proposition R 2008 on the ballot with the goal of providing a long-term solution to space concerns at Sperreng Middle School.

More than 1,300 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders are jammed into the middle school that was designed to accommodate 800 pupils when it opened in 1970.

While Sperreng will remain a sixth- through eighth-grade middle school, Prop R funds will be used to convert Truman Elementary School to a sixth- through eighth-grade middle school.

Besides the Crestwood and Long additions, Prop R will fund the conversion of Concord School, which currently houses the district’s Early Childhood Education program, into an elementary school, and the construction of a new ECE building next to the district’s Administration Building at 4900 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

Work currently is under way on Concord School and the new ECE building. The board voted in December to award a $15,503,500 contract for the two projects to Diestelkamp Construction Co., the lowest bidder. Thirteen bids were submitted for the two projects.

For the Crestwood and Long projects, the district received 15 bids from general contractors.

“In taking a look at the bid response, we had a large number of construction folks interested …,” Guyer told the board, noting he was recommending Tri-Co be awarded the contract.

“In evaluating their proposal, several factors jumped up very quickly. One is that Tri-Co had completed successfully four projects for us previously in other bond issues,” Guyer said. “They also have been running a good track record with other projects more recently, and I have as part of our post-bid interview reviewed some of those folks …”

Besides recommending approval of Tri-Co’s base bid of $6,350,000, he recommended approval of a $24,000 alternate bid for shades at the Sappington Elementary School Library.

In a memo, Guyer noted that TriCo. Inc. Commercial’s bid was within the estimated budget established for the two additions and the shades.

Construction of the additions at the two schools will start immediately while work on the front entrances at both schools will not begin until summer 2011.

In a separate matter, Board of Education member Janine Fabick announced her resignation from the board, effective May 20.

Board Secretary Kathleen Kienstra read a letter from Fabick, which stated, in part, “… I am regretfully announcing my resignation from the Lindbergh Board of Education. My family and I are moving to a home outside of the district and effective May 20, 2010, we will no longer be residents of the Lindbergh School District …”

Board President Ken Fey said, “That’s probably one of the saddest things we’ve had in a long time … You are truly going to be missed. All the time you’ve been here, you’ve done a great job.”

Fabick said, “… I’m very sad. I’m happy about the house we’re moving into, but I feel like I’m losing a part of the family …”

Fey said applications soon would be sought to fill the vacancy on the board.

“… So we will look for somebody to fill that position. Now again, we will have to work out the details …,” the board president said.

Of Fabick, Superintendent Jim Simpson told the Call, “… She’s an outstanding board member. She’s going to be very difficult to replace. We’re happy that their dream house is now getting completed, but we’re sad that she’ll be leaving the board.”

Fabick first was elected to the Board of Education in 2006 and was re-elected in 2009. The person selected to fill Fabick’s vacant seat on the board will serve until next April when four seats will be up for election.

Seats held by Kienstra, board Treasurer Mark Rudoff and member Don Bee that carry three-year terms will be up for election in April along with the seat vacated by Fabick that will carry a one-year term.

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