Bids totaling nearly $4.85 million for the construction of a new Oakville Elementary School were scheduled to be considered earlier this week by the Mehlville Board of Education.

The Board of Education was scheduled to meet Monday night — after the Call went to press.

The new Oakville Elementary School will be constructed as part of the Mehlville School District’s $72.4 million Proposition P districtwide building improvement program. District voters in November 2000 approved a 49-cent tax-rate increase to fund Proposition P.

In February, the Board of Education approved plans for the new school and sought construction bids. Ground is scheduled to be broken around July 1 for the new 53,000-square-foot, one-story elementary school that is designed to accommodate 450 pupils. The existing school has about 46,000 square feet of space.

The first phase of the Oakville Elementary project will be the removal of hazardous materials from the existing building, followed by the demolition of the building. The board voted in April to award a $228,000 contract to Ahern Contracting Inc. for the abatement of hazardous materials and the demolition work.

Of that $228,000 contract for abatement work, $77,000 is being funded through the Proposition P Hazardous Waste Disposal budget.

Demolition work is scheduled to begin June 10 and is expected to take about three weeks. During that time, a sinkhole on the site will be remediated, according to Superintendent John Cary.

“The remediation on the sinkhole over there in that corner is supposed to start at the same time as demolition,” Cary said. “It’s far enough away from the building that they can do that.”

The McCarthy Construction Co., which serves as the Proposition P construction manager, along with Dickinson Hussman Architects, Heideman + Associates Inc. and the district administration are recommending the school board approve these bids totaling $4,844,162 in nine categories of work for the new Oakville Elementary School:

• General Work — Kozeny-Wagner Inc., which submitted a base bid of $1,853,000.

Also being recommended for approval are four alternates that would bring the total cost to $1,997,000. The alternates include providing concrete curbs instead of asphalt, providing 17 additional parking spaces, providing 25 metal lockers in each classroom and replacing an exterior insulation and finish system on the courtyard walls with face brick.

Three bids were submitted for the work and Kozeny-Wagner’s was the lowest base bid and combined bid with the selected alternates.

• Drywall Work — Grau Contractors, which submitted a base bid of $1,086,000.

However, because the face brick is being recommended for the courtyard walls, this bid was reduced by $36,860, bringing the cost to $1,049,140.

Three bids were submitted for the work and Grau Contractors’ bid was the lowest submitted.

• Aluminum and Glazing Work — West St. Louis Glass Co., which submitted a base bid of $109,755.

Three bids were submitted for the work and the West St. Louis Glass Co.’s bid was the lowest.

• Plumbing Work — Rock Hill Mechanical Corp., which submitted a base bid of $309,764.

Six bids were submitted for the work and the Rock Hill Mechanical Corp.’s bid was the lowest.

• HVAC Work — MCI Mechanical, which submitted a base bid of $462,230.

Seven bids were submitted for the work and MCI Mechanical’s was the lowest.

• Fire Protection Work — L. Grasse & Associates, which submitted a base bid of $112,200.

Six bids were submitted for the work and L. Grasse & Associates’ bid was the lowest.

• Electrical Work — Kaiser Electric, which submitted a base bid of $527,595. The work also includes electrical work for the additional parking spaces at a cost of $2,750, bringing the total cost to $530,345.

Eight bids were submitted for the work and Kaiser Electric’s was the lowest base bid and combined bid with the selected alternate.

• Control Work — Johnson Controls, which submitted a base bid of $153,544.

Johnson Control’s bid was the only one submitted.

• Kitchen Equipment — Servco Cos., which submitted a base bid of $120,184.

Three bids were submitted and the Servco Cos.’ bid was the lowest.

The original budget for the construction of the new Oakville Elementary School was $5,049,000.

However, when the Board of Education approved the plans for the new school, members were informed that preconstruction estimates placed the cost of the new building at about $500,000 more than the approved construction budget.

At that time, the board was informed that delaying by one year roof repair projects scheduled for the summers of 2004, 2005 and 2006, an additional $500,000 in district capital funds would be available for the project.

However, even with that additional $500,000, the total post-bid estimate exceeds previously budgeted funds by more than $200,000.

Given that, additional capital funds will be allocated to cover the cost, according to information provided to the board by Randy Charles, Mehlville assistant superintendent for finance and the district’s chief financial officer.

“McCarthy Construction will take responsibility for maintaining construction site general conditions as they did at the Bernard Middle School project,” Charles wrote. “The estimated cost for site general conditions is $300,000. It is estimated that the rooftop units will cost $164,920 and panel boards will cost $12,353.”

The total cost of the base bids being recommended for approval is $4,734,272. Alternates totaling $109,890 will bring the total cost to $4,844,162.

“A 5 percent site-specific contingency will be built into the project in the amount of $277,472,” the chief financial officer wrote. “The total post-bid estimate is $5,826,907, which exceeds previously allocated funds by $200,907. Additional district capital funds will be allocated to cover these additional costs.”

Two alternates for the project are not being recommended for approval — installing two skylights in one of the interior classrooms and replacing all brick with an exterior insulation and finish system.

The cost of installing the two skylights would have added a total of $12,000 to Kozeny-Wagner’s bid, while replacing the brick would have reduced the company’s bid by $138,000.