The Board of Education approved a construction contract for the Carroll County Career and Technology Center and hired architecture and engineering services for the East Middle replacement project. The summer will mean other repair projects to schools as well.
Tech Center
The board voted unanimously to approve the construction contract for the renovation and construction project at the Carroll County Career and Technology Center in Westminster.
This four-year project will expand the facility to fit the needs of the popular program. The building was designed for 380 students in 19 programs and currently houses over 800 students in 24 programs per semester, according to a Carroll County Public Schools memo. The addition will add 108,205 square feet of space to the facility.
[ Updates on Carroll County Career and Technology Center renovation plan presented to school board ]
In his presentation, Director of Facilities Management Ray Prokop said people have been talking about this project for more then 20 years. He and several board members thanked staff for their hard work and expressed excitement to break ground.
In the contract, CCPS staff and partners worked to maximize the amount of participation from the state in funding the project without going over the amount allotted to the project by Carroll County. They worked to do both of these while meeting the needs of the Career and Tech Center for their educational programs.
“That’s really the trifecta,” Prokop said.
The work of seeking out bids while staying within the project’s financial constraints was particularly uncertain because of COVID-19 and it’s effect on the workforce and supply chains for contractors, staff said.
East Middle
The board voted unanimously to approve a bid for the services of Hord Coplan Macht, Inc. for architecture and engineering on the East Middle School replacement project. The bid is in the amount of $2,398,092.
The firm was recommended to the board by CCPS staff. Superintendent Steve Lockard spoke before the vote to explain some of the screening and selection process for firms who submit bids.
“There’s a whole lot that happens in the background ... to get us to this point to make those recommendations,” he said.
[ Board of Education votes to build new school on East Middle campus in Westminster ]
CCPS received 15 proposals and narrowed down to six firms to hear presentations, collect proposals and conduct interviews. Technical proposals and interviews with the firms were 75% of the firm’s score and procurement proposals were 25% of the score. Hord Coplan Macht was the highest scorer, though not the lowest bidder.
Major renovations and replacements of facilities are outlined in the Educational Facilities Master Plan, which is updated yearly. The most recent version was approved at the June 10 meeting and can be found as an attachment to the agenda at carrollk12.org.
Other projects
Carroll County Daily Headlines
The facade of Westminster High School, where crumbling bricks caused concern, will see repairs this summer. The maintenance department will replace sections of brick.
Winfield Elementary School’s aging HVAC system will be replaced with a more energy-efficient system.
Westminster High School’s six science classrooms and associated prep rooms will be renovated into more modern spaces more similar to working labs.
Cranberry Elementary is scheduled for a roof replacement with work to begin June 16.
The parking lots at Robert Moton Elementary School will be repaired and the school will add more parking spaces.
Four schools will have their public address systems replaced: Linton Springs Elementary, Freedom Elementary, Hampstead Elementary, and Shiloh Middle School. “All systems are experiencing technical problems requiring constant repairs, and are used for morning announcements and school communications,” CCPS staff wrote in a memo.
The Board of Education will hold a special meeting June 24 to discuss the implications of COVID-19 on the fall 2020 semester.