Barren County schools select architect

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February 17, 2010

By LISA SIMPSON STRANGE Glasgow Daily Times The Glasgow Daily Times Wed Feb 17, 2010, 12:03 PM CST

GLASGOW — Members of the Barren County Board of Education met during a special-called meeting Tuesday night at Barren County High School to address three issues.

The first was to approve an architect for upcoming construction projects in the district following approval by the board of six BG1s, or proposed construction plans, during last week’s regular board meeting.

Additional construction and/or renovation is planned at Red Cross Elementary, the Hillcrest facility, Eastern Elementary, North Jackson Elementary and two phases at Barren County High School.

Three architects submitted letters of interest for the projects and superintendent Jerry Ralston said all were well-qualified, but he recommended members choose RBS Design of Owensboro because the board has worked with the firm for many years.

Board members Ken Edwards and Tim England also voiced support for the selection of RBS.

“They have given us great service through the years and a good product. They come in under budget,” England said. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

Board chairman Robbie Toms said RBS is already familiar with North Jackson Elementary, which will have two additional classrooms and other work completed in this round of construction, because the firm was the architect for the school originally.

Board members voted unanimously to retain RBS as architect for the new construction projects for the district.

The second item on the agenda was to approve a construction manager for the projects and Ralston told members that four firms had submitted letters of interest, three of which are located in Glasgow. He recommended Venture Contracting to the board members for the same reasons he gave for his choice of architect.

“They’ve been with us a number of years. Because of location, we have access to services at any time and they have helped to provide quality facilities in the district,” he said.

England agreed, saying with $40 million worth of construction at Park City, Temple Hill, Eastern Elementary, Trojan Academy and North Jackson Elementary, there had been very few problems. Venture had completed projects on time, under budget and given the district quality buildings.

“I think we should continue working with them. The relationship has been a successful one,” he said.

England and Toms also voiced similar reasons for choosing Venture as district construction manager for the new building projects.

Ralston reminded board members, as with the architect, any approval of the construction manager is subject to Kentucky Department of Education approval, as well, when submitted to Frankfort.

The board approved Venture as construction manager in a vote of 4 to 1 with Charlotte Beals voting against.

The final issue was to approve a waiver of the applicable school allocations deadline from March 1 to May 1 as recommended last week by the Kentucky Board of Education and the Kentucky School Boards Association. All current policies or procedures dealing with funding allocations will be delayed for two months because the state legislature has not approved a final budget yet and so school districts do not know what their spending budgets will be.

“We just don’t know where we are,” Ralston said.

Board members voted unanimously to approve the waiver. They also discussed the possibility of the deadline being changed permanently and how that might benefit school districts.

“It would give more time to make decisions based on financing,” Ralston said.

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