Pekin bond project back within budget

            Good news came to the Pekin Board of Education during a meeting with construction manager Carl. A Nelson and their architect, SVPA on Monday, Nov. 13 as both entities were able to propose an estimate within the district’s new budget of $6 million.

            “The bid estimates came in at $6.3 million from Carl A. Nelson and SVPA, and the Board last month told them to figure out how to stay at that $6 million budget,” Pekin Superintendent Dave Harper said. "The architects and engineers looked at some areas and really analyzed where and how they could cost cut various projects and still meet all the project needs.”

            Through this analysis, SVPA looked at what was needed with the foundation for the new junior high addition and entryway. Originally, a spiral foundation system was proposed that would incorporate four foot wide pillars that would be burrowed forty-five feet into the ground. Realizing this system placed Pekin approximately $270,000 over their estimates, B. Vitus Bering and Josh Ridgely from SVPA Architects proposed the idea of a similar foundation used throughout the current district.

            “We instead will match what we have at Pekin, but a beefier foundation than the original building,” Harper said. “The Board has looked at how the building has endured and survived over the last fifty years and we have been stable. We didn’t need to do these spiral foundations, which would have cost the district $300,000.”

            The district will also be saving an additional $30,000 for their bathroom projects due to current fixtures only being placed in the school last year. Layouts of certain bathrooms will also not change to accommodate costs. Finally, the district will plan to alternate bid their new canopy system by the high school and elementary school. According to Harper, this will allow the main body of the canopy to be included in the bids, with the option of add “wings” to the canopies to further increase their range.

            “We are hitting the budget right where we needed to after this meeting,” Harper said. “We’re going to get everything we’ve told our taxpayers we are going to get, and we’re getting a good product that will make our district ready for our kids.”

Please view the November 15 edition of The News-Review for the full story.