A bidder for Benicia High School’s fire alarm upgrade project is on the agenda for Thursday’s school board meeting. (File Photo)

The Benicia Unified School District is already in the process of looking for a contractor for the fire alarm upgrade at Benicia High School. The school board will be voting Thursday to award the contract to the lowest bidder.

The fire alarm improvement is another item to be funded through Measure S, the initiative approved by Benicia voters in 2014 to provide $49.6 million in bond funding to enhance facilities at BUSD’s seven schools. Much like the stadium renovation at Benicia High School and the fire alarm upgrade at Benicia Middle School, the project was taken to a public bidding process where contractors had to be pre-qualified in order to be eligible to bid. According to Measure S Bond Director Roxanne Egan, four contractors pre-qualified and three submitted a bid. The lowest was a $1.9 million bid submitted by Bockmon & Woody Electric Co. Inc. out of Stockton. District staff is recommending that the board award the contract to Bockmon & Woody, noting that the district’s electrical engineer has successfully worked on projects with the company and is confident in their ability.

In other matters, Chief Business Official Tim Rahill will discuss a study on BUSD’s enrollment projections over the next five years, and the board will review proposals for the installation of solar panels at four of its schools. This item will be the basis of a public hearing for a special board meeting at 4 p.m., Wednesday, May 10 in which action will be requested to award the solar contract.

Additionally, the board will also be highlighting Benicia High’s speech and debate class which was established at the start of the 2016-17 school year.

The board will meet at 7 p.m., Thursday, May 4 in the Benicia Unified School District Board Room at the district building on 350 East K Street. There will be an earlier closed session at 6 p.m.

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