The Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District will be holding a public hearing at Thursday’s meeting to set the retention for two Measure S projects at 10 percent because they are considered substantially complex.

Measure S is an initiative that was approved by Benicia voters in 2014 to provide $49.6 million in bond funding for renovation and upgrades of school facilities. Such projects include upgrading the playgrounds at the elementary schools, fixing the roof at Benicia Middle School, re-painting the exterior at Benicia High School and renovating the stadium at Benicia High, the latter of which is currently in progress.

However, there are two projects that are considered substantially complex: the upgrade of Benicia Middle School’s fire alarm system and solar retrofitting at several of the schools.

Per public contract code, retention proceeds that are “withheld from any payment by a public entity and an original contractor, between an original contractor and a subcontractor, and between all subcontractors thereunder, relating to the construction of any public work shall not exceed five percent of the contract price.”

Likewise, public contract code stipulates that school districts may withhold retention proceeds larger than 5 percent from the original contractor “where the district has approved a finding during a properly noticed and normally scheduled public hearing prior to bidding that the project is substantially complex and therefore requires a higher retention amount than five percent and the awarding entity includes both this finding and the actual retention amount in the bid documents.”

The fire alarm project— including the design, engineering and construction— requires retaining some specialty contractors and materials that are not commonly used in public school construction at Benicia Unified. These include the fact the construction timeline is critical, the system is unique in nature and requires specialized training, and the system is directly related to fire, life and safety at the school. Therefore, the district staff is recommending that the retention for the project be set at 10 percent.

A similar case is occurring with the district’s solar photovoltaic (PV) project. Factors that make the project complex include specialized training and experience working on solar PV projects for public school clients, design code understanding for solar PV projects with the Division of the State Architect, solar PV components including panels and inverters, contractors capable of working on multiple solar projects at the same time and contractors who are able to complete the Pacific Gas & Electric Time-of-Use Grandfathering deadline before Dec. 31. The latter factor is considered critical in achieving the maximum amount of savings costs.

As with the fire alarm project, the district is recommending retention for the solar PV project be set at 10 percent. There will be an opportunity for the public to comment.

In other business, Measure S Bond Director Roxanne Egan will be reviewing the solar PV project’s feasibility study ahead of the hearing, and the board will be considering the approval and application of the Alternative Schools Accountability Model for Benicia’s Community Day School.

The board will meet at 7 p.m., Thursday, 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 5:30 p.m.

Sharing is caring!