Baker School Board OKs maximum price for BMS cafeteria

Mar. 20—The new cafeteria/multipurpose building at Baker Middle School will cost more than an estimate from earlier this winter.

The Baker School Board on Thursday, March 16 approved a guaranteed maximum price of $6,590,000 for the 6,150-square-foot building.

In January the district's estimate was $4.93 million.

Jason Pennington of CB Const. Inc. of La Grande, the firm the board picked in October 2022 as construction manager/general contractor, attributed the difference to higher construction costs.

Pennington told the board that Baker City contractors will do some of the work on the cafeteria.

"That's a good representation of your local community having interest," Pennington said.

The list of Baker County subcontractors includes Valley Metal & Heating (HVAC), Arros Electric (electrical), Ne-Hi Enterprises (storefronts), Carpet One (flooring), Damschen Interiors (drywall), SNW Insulation (insulation) and Wilson Cabinets of Halfway (cabinets).

CB Const. Inc. will handle earthwork, concrete and plumbing.

Other work will be done by Eagle Cap Construction of La Grande (roofing), A Sharp Painter (Pendleton), Davidson's Masonry of Salem, Hampton Paving of La Grande, Noland Doors of Hermiston, and American Fence of Fruitland, Idaho.

The district plans to have a groundbreaking ceremony in April.

Fences around the construction site, which is on the west side of the BMS gymnasium, will be set up during spring break, March 27-31.

The building should be finished in May 2024.

Amber Van Ocker of LKV Architects, which designed the building, told the school board that crews will install security cameras on the existing school and the new cafeteria.

"All the exterior doors of the existing middle school will have 'door position switches' is their technical term, but it basically monitors whether that door is in an open or closed position. It's another component of the safety features," Van Ocker said. "It's not cameras everywhere but for the most part we are covering all of the critical locations."

The southern entrance to the existing school will allow workers in the office to see visitors as they approach.

The system is similar to the one in place at Brooklyn Primary School, Van Ocker said.

The middle school lacks a cafeteria (the food is cooked at the Baker Early Learning Center and driven to BMS), and the new building is the biggest project funded in part by the $4 million property tax bond measure that district voters approved in May 2021.

It was the first such voter-approved bond for the district since 1948.

The district's plans were delayed last summer, however, when it received only one bid for the job, for $9.1 million.

The school board decided to use a different strategy, hiring CB Const. Inc. as construction manager/general contractor rather than rebidding the project.

Earlier this year the district's bond oversight committee recommended the school board go ahead with construction at BMS. The board voted 5-0 on Jan. 20 to do so.

The $4 million from the taxpayer-approved bond is less than one-third of the district's total budget for building improvements, which is about $15.5 million.

The district also has a $4 million grant from the state, $2 million from its capital projects budget, $2.4 million from the state Student Investment Act, $1.5 million from federal COVID-19 aid, and $1.4 million from another state program earmarked for work at the Baker Early Learning Center.

The bond budget includes a $1 million contingency fund that has not been spent.

District officials had also intended to replace the roof at South Baker, but that project is on hold.