WWW arkcity.net

By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer

The Arkansas City Board of Education on Monday rejected a lone bid for a half million dollars to build a school access road and authorized the project engineer to go back and get more bids.

The access road project would accommodate a planned railroad overpass at Kansas Avenue at the railroad crossing just east of Arkansas City Middle School.

The lone bidder, LaFarge Construction, of Wichita, indicated today that it would rebid the project, said Al Oakes, a senior partner of Smith & Oakes Engineering, the project engineers.

"That's good news," Oakes said.

He added, however, that there is a chance that a second round of bids -- to be solicited during the next 30 days -- might result in higher bids. One factor that could raise costs would be a higher cost of fuel.

"Crude is going up, gas is going up," Oakes said at last night's school board meeting. "If you delay (approving a bid) another month, I can almost guarantee you gas prices will be higher."

Fuel is used to power construction equipment and, of course, for transportation. It is a big factor in construction costs, he said.

LaFarge Construction bid $524,524 to construct an access road to the C Street entrance to the middle school parking lot. The project includes widening entrances and exits to the lot from C Street, so buses can access the lot from there.

Once construction on the planned railroad overpass begins -- probably sometime in the late fall -- Kansas Avenue will close. Traffic including school buses will be unable to enter the lot from the east side of the school.

The middle school parking lot serves as a hub for school buses to make exchanges, said Superintendent Ron Ballard.

"Administratively, we weren't disappointed with the dollar amount of the (LaFarge) bid at all, just with the non-competitiveness of the bidding," Ballard said. "Sadly, (construction) people are just booked up on projects in other parts of the state."

Assistant Superintendent of USD 470 schools J.K. Campbell said today that the administration decided to change its previous recommendation to accept the LaFarge Construction's bid after discussing the matter over the past few days.

"This was a tough one both for us and for the board," Campbell said. "We talked about fuel costs, the potential of coming in with only one bid the next time and the time factor for getting the project finished.

"We weighed all factors and came to the conclusion it would be in the best interests of taxpayers to rebid the project."

The board in the past has rejected accepting bids by a lone bidder, he added. Board members have expressed their desire to have several bids from which to choose.

Board members Mike Walker and Joe Woodard voiced their desire to have more than one company bid on the project. Board president Joelyn Squires said she was voting for the revised recommendation "reluctantly."

"My concern is if we don't get this bid and get started, we don't get it done before construction starts and school is back in session in the fall," Squires said.

The City of Arkansas City is teaming up with Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the Kansas Department of Transportation on the $7 million overpass project. KDOT will pay 85 percent of the project and the city and BNSF will split the remaining 15 percent, a city official said.

The city plans to bid the overpass project in September.

"If they start bids in September, I would say construction might start in 'red' October," Ballard said.

Oakes said today he would recontact construction companies for bids by the end of this week. He would set a deadline in mid-May for receiving bids and would plan to report back to the school board at the regular board meeting scheduled for May 14.

In other action at Monday night's meeting, the board:

* Accepted technology bids from several vendors and authorized a call for lease-purchase proposals to finance the total purchase of $320,342, to be brought for consideration no later than April 23.

* Approved invoice payments to keep membership in the Kansas Association of School Boards and for the KASB Legal Assistance Fund. The KASB membership fee for 2007-08 is $10,764, and the legal assistance fee is $1,100.

* After a 30-minute executive session, approved an extension of Superintendent Ballard's contract for two more years, through June 30, 2009.


Middle School could change sports leagues

The possibility of changing middle school sports league affiliation was discussed at Monday night's school board meeting.

Arkansas City Middle School athletes now are affiliated with the Walnut Valley League, but it is in a state of demise, said Tara Taylor, USD 470 athletic director.

Haysville school districts have withdrawn from that league. In addition, reports are that El Dorado and Winfield also are considering withdrawing, to join the Pioneer League.

The two leagues have different lengths of seasons, Taylor said. The Walnut Valley League has shorter and separate seasons for basketball and wrestling, while the Pioneer League runs both sports at the same time for a longer season, with more games or matches.

Members of the Pioneer League must charge admission for events, something Ark City has not done for its middle school sports.