Schools
D86 Summer Projects Approved At Last
The projects approved total $1.2 million, down from the $1.7 million in projects approved by the old board.
The Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education finally has approved the 2013 summer projects.
Board members voted 4-3 during a special meeting Tuesday night to approve bid packages totaling approximately $1.2 million in construction projects, the apparent culmination of a re-bid process that began with the current board’s cancelation of their predecessors’ approved bid packages in May.
READ: Hinsdale South Construction Won't Be Complete Until December
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Board members Victor Casini, Ed Corcoran, Claudia Manley and Richard Skoda voted to accept the bid packages, while Kay Gallo, Michael Kuhn and Jennifer Planson voted against accepting them.
The original bid packages totaled $1.7 million, but that price tag applied to a different project list. The second round of bidding was on a project list that did not include main hallway improvements at both Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South that were a part of the first list, and did include improvements to the Hinsdale Central concession stand and ticket booth that were added by the new board.
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The re-bidding process did not significantly affect the prices of the projects that were on both lists, said Doug Lim of Gilbane Construction, the district’s general contractor.
“If you look apples to apples between the original bids and re-bids, there is minimal variance to it,” Lim said. “That basically tells me that the numbers are where they need to be. There’s no major difference in the re-bid items.”
Lim repeated that fact again at the request of board member Planson.
“So why did we rebid?” Planson asked. “Were we supposed to save money? Was that the issue?”
Lim said it was his understanding that the re-bidding was done to change the scope of the projects. Corcoran, who chairs the board’s Facilities Committee, confirmed that, saying “a massive amount of scope changes” had taken place.
“To characterize this as the same is not really true,” Corcoran said. “There have been a lot of changes.”
Among the summer projects approved Tuesday night are two new batting cages and exhaust fans at Hinsdale Central, and an improved girls locker room and training room at Hinsdale South.
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