The school board has awarded American Excavating the bid of $582,920 to pave the Matthew Thornton Elementary School parking lot.
School District Director of Buildings and Grounds Chuck Zappala said that Phase 1 of the Matthew Thornton parking lot paving project was done two years ago.
“We knew from the beginning that it was a very expensive project and the total amount of work would take 12 to 15 weeks to complete, so we really couldn’t do it in one year,” he said. “We decided to divide it up into two parts and completed part one two years ago.”
Zappala said that in the meantime they did not receive funding for part two, but this year, as part of the maintenance bond, funding for completion was included and approved.
“Stantec did the bid documents and specifications and advertised in construction trade journals and made contact with some of the local companies,” he said. “We had four companies that picked up bid packets and a couple of weeks ago there was a pre-bid conference and had three companies attend, and last week we had the bid opening.”
Zappala said the district received two bids, American Excavating for $582,920 and Busby Construction for $588,158. He said Continental Paving and Advanced Excavating took out bid packets but did not submit bids.
“Continental Paving decided not to bid and did not want to be the general contractor, and will be working with American Excavating as a subcontractor,” Zappala said, adding that $600,000 was budgeted for the project.
American Excavating had worked on South School and the high school in the past.
Board member Dan Lekas wanted to know the complete cost of the project. Zappala said a little over $400,000 was spent two years ago and just under $600,000 will be spent this year, totaling about $1 million.
He said the project would start June 23, with substantial completion around Aug. 1 and completion in mid August. He said that with most of the preliminary work done, he didn’t foresee any cost overruns.
The board approved the bid unanimously at its May 20 meeting, pending final approval of the Maintenance Bond.
In other business:
• Londonderry High School science teacher Dan Grant and Londonderry Middle School math teacher Trudy Morris were recognized for being chosen at the spring pep rally as Dollars for Scholars Teachers of the Year.
• Matthew Thornton student Tommy Martin was recognized for his quick action when he saw smoke in the hallway and notified a teacher, which prompted the safe evacuation of the school. He had already been given the Veterans of Foreign Wars Lifesaver Award.
• LHS Principal Jason Parent introduced Maureen O’Dea to the school board. She will be taking over as Guidance Director at the high school with the retirement of Mike Dolphin. She begins July 1.
• LMS Principal Richard Zacchilli invited the school board to join the sixth grade Tsunami team members as they showcase their many accomplishments from the school year on Tuesday, June 17, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the LMS cafeteria.