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RCHS roof bid awarded

By Danielle Strenke

At a special meeting Thursday, April 19, the Rush City School Board awarded the contract for replacing the high school roof.

The board unanimously approved the recommendation of Superintendent Tim Eklund, to hire the firm of Ebert Construction. The company came in with the lowest of eight bids submitted on the project, with a base bid of $1,534,400. Other bids ranged as high as $2.1 million.

Ebert Constructionís bid was lower than estimated by the board; however, the process of awarding the bid took longer than anticipated.
ìOur district and Inspec were not familiar with Ebert Construction, so it took time to find out who they are and what they do,î Eklund said.

Inspec, Inc. is the engineering and architectural firm working with the district on the project.
Board member John Bosman asked about previous renovation work done by Ebert Construction.

ìThey mentioned Mounds View City Hall, work for the Forest Lake school district, quite a bit on the west side of the cities,î Eklund said.

He told the board Inspec had contacted all of Ebertís references, and the lowest rating the company received was a fair ranking. ìItís kind of unusual to not get any bad ratings,î Eklund said.

ìHow long have they been in business?î board member Mark Moulton asked. Eklund said he couldnít recall what they had said, but it was at least a decade, looking at the dates of completed projects.

Site drainage improvements at the school and the surrounding property was not included in the package. Eklund said a topographical survey was necessary first.

The roof is scheduled to be replaced during summer break. Funding for the project will depend on the referendum vote April 29.

If passed by district voters, the state will fund approximately 48 percent of the total costs, with taxpayers footing the rest of the bill. If the roof referendum fails, the state will only cover approximately 12 percent of the total cost.


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