Contractor field narrowed on Livingston High School improvement project
ATWATER -- Localism was on the minds of a handful of community members in attendance at Wednesday night's Merced Union High School District board of trustees meeting.
Board members were to narrow down the pool of potential general contractors for the Livingston High School enlargement project to five or six companies.
Renae de Jaeger, a local business owner, expressed her support for hiring Merced County workers during the meeting's public comment period.
"We all know that unemployment and crime are rampant here," she said. "If we all shop online, that means our towns will become ghost towns."
Board members voted unanimously to limit the pool to four contractors, and only one of which, Greg Opinski Construction, is located in Merced County.
The other three companies include Diede Construction of Woodbridge; Overaa & Co. of Point Richmond and Teichert Construction of Turlock.
The $8.4 million project involves creating 19 acres of playfields, reconstructing Peach Avenue and building concession stands, restrooms and team rooms, according to Michael Belluomini, MUHSD director of facilities and planning.
The project was funded by Measure M, a $149 million bond initiative passed by voters in 2008 to fund school improvements.
Tim O'Neill, MUHSD board member, said that in the past the board has been supportive of hiring local workers and they hope to continue this in the future.
Yet, the verdict is still out on which company will serve as the general contractors for the project.
Companies must submit proposals by Aug. 9 and the best proposals will be interviewed on Aug. 18. A contract will be awarded Sept. 8 at a school board meeting.
One Atwater company, G.R. Clark, was hoping to be included on the list, but the board voted to exclude it based on the fact that the company didn't have adequate bonding capacity.
The company only does grading and paving and would have to contract with a subcontractor for the building of the restrooms and concession stands.
Board members recommended the company try to work as the subcontractor for the general contractor.
Penny Clark-Stone, spokeswoman for G.R. Clark, said she had her doubts about any chance to work on the project because most contractors prefer using their staff for paving and grading.
The company has done work on schools in the recent past, she said, in addition to work on new home construction projects.
"We used to do three to 13 subdivisions a year and now we're down to zero," she said.
In May, Merced County's unemployment rate was 18.1 percent compared to 19.8 percent in April. In other words, nearly 20,000 people in Merced County were unemployed in May. That's roughly one-fifth of the working population.
Reporter Jamie Oppenheim can be reached at (209) 385-2407 or joppenheim@mercedsun-star.com.
This story was originally published July 15, 2010 at 12:26 AM with the headline "Contractor field narrowed on Livingston High School improvement project."