bidding to reopen soon

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

The four components of the Liberty High School renovation project, whose rejections were tabled by the Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees Sept. 20, were formally rejected Thursday so they could be re-bid.

Before the vote was cast, Maintenance and Operations Supervisor Roy Owens and Rob Barthelman, AIA, the Director of VBN Architects’ Educational Facilities Group, spoke to the panel. Oren Ruben, principal at VBN, was also present.

Owens reiterated that the bids for the four projects, toilet room alterations, re-roofing, window replacement and landscaping at 350 East K St., all had bids exceeded their projected budget.

“All the bids came in way too high, and the board voted to delay the recommendation and requested more information,” he said.

Owens, Chief Business Official Tim Rahill and the VBN architects assembled a more comprehensive package for the board’s consideration before Thursday’s meeting. The packet gave the trustees more information on the project, including a review of the old bidding, and recommendations for rebidding. Bid summaries of the four projects up for bid rejection were included in the package.

“We also recognize a need to cast a much larger net in advertising for the bids,” said Owens. They included an explanation on how they would extend their advertising. “We’re also including a pretty substantial list of plan rooms and construction exchanges throughout the area.”

This electronically sends the bid packages and specifications that contractors use to look for projects.
“When would we go out to rebid this?” asked Trustee Steve Messina.

Barthelman said they were just under two weeks away from putting the projects back out for bidding.
Messina wanted more clarification on the final date that they would stop accepting bids.

“They have to be advertised for two weeks with the specific dates that bids are due and public bid opening is open,” said Barthelman. “So two weeks after those submitters go out, which is after we get the bid specs and bid documents from VBN, so we’re talking four weeks.”

Trustee Gary Wing wanted to know if they were going to do the bid walks again, or just get the drawings and specs, then base the bidding on those.

“Everything will happen again,” said Owens.

“When you get bids that you wish to have us agree with, will there be more specifics? In the last batch, what we basically got was a total,” said board president Rosie Switzer.

She said that when BUSD renovated Matthew Turner, Joe Henderson, and Robert Semple elementary schools, the board received more specific information on the bids.

Messina recommended that the information be sent to everybody electronically in a PDF format.

The amount of information that was supplied to the board and the questions that were answered convinced the members of the board to reject the four bids and rebid the project. The three bid members present approved this unanimously. Trustees Dana Dean and Andre Stewart were absent.

Dr. Karen Dubrule, director of curriculum and instruction, asked the board to approve the use of a districtwide note-taking system, the Cornell Method, for grades four through 12. “We had a subcommittee look at note taking, and they’re recommending Cornell notes be the template that we use,” she said. The District Curriculum Council approved this recommendation .
“It’s a very thorough process of learning,” she said.

The recommendation was approved unanimously by the three members present.

During the highlight Superintendent Janice Adams gave recognition to the members of the First Baptist Church and their Red Awning Cafe, where the middle school students can get a free breakfast on school mornings.

“Every Back to School night and open house, the staff of the First Baptist Church host a dinner for the staff of the Benicia Middle School, because they don’t have time to go home for dinner,” she said.

“It is a kind gesture that is greatly appreciated by the staff at BMS,” Adams said. “Even more important than the support they give our staff is the support they give our students.”

Michael Minahen, principal of BMS added a comment too. “They’re always taking care of our kids. We just truly appreciate everything they do for our students.”