Seymour Community Schools has awarded $2 million in construction projects to improve the football and track facility at Seymour High School and renovate interior space at Margaret R. Brown Elementary School. Bids for the projects were presented during a school board meeting last week.
A total of three bids were received earlier this month for the work at the high school, which includes installing an artificial turf playing field, resurfacing the track and installing an electrical box.
The project was awarded to Sports Contracting Group LLC out of Brecksville, Ohio, with an overall bid of $973,600.
Other bids were from King’s Trucking and Excavation in Seymour ($1,032,300) and Goecker Construction in Seymour ($1,122,960).
King’s Trucking and Excavation is the company currently working on the high school’s new soccer field complex, which also will feature an artificial turf field.
That project is expected to be complete in time for the 2016-17 soccer season.
The budget for the football field and track project is $1 million, which will be paid for through general obligation bonds. The bonds will be paid back through the district’s capital projects fund.
Work is expected to get underway this month and be finished in August in time for football practice. The first home game is scheduled for Aug. 26.
Trustee Jeff Joray has voiced his concerns with the cost of artificial turf in the past and said he doesn’t feel there is enough information about how it could impact players’ health.
Matt Gullo with Kovert Hawkins Architects said some studies have shown there is no association or link to health risks from contact with the artificial field.
Joray voted against awarding the bid.
Two other alternate projects, including the relocation of the shot put area and a new press box, will not be included because there isn’t enough money in the budget, school officials said.
The bidding for the Brown project was more competitive with five companies submitting bids for the work. T&G Construction Co. Inc. of Bedford was awarded the project for $924,895.
T&G is the same company that has completed addition and renovation projects in recent years at Emerson and Brown elementaries and currently is working at Cortland Elementary School, where it is building a new media center.
Other bids were from Goecker Construction ($1,080,294), Dunlap and Co. ($955,000), Poole Group ($1,016,700) and Teton Corp. ($987,000).
The project, which is the second phase at Brown, includes enclosing the open media center; renovating the old office space, classrooms and storage area to accommodate increased enrollment and improve building flow; and resurfacing and striping the bus parking lot area.
Phase I was the addition of four kindergarten classrooms, which was completed last summer.
Only two alternative projects — improving the school’s entry drive and constructing a storage building — were not included in the second phase due to the $1 million budget.
The Brown project also is being funded through bond money.
The new debt should not impact the district’s tax rate because the corporation will have paid off bonds for a previous project before the new bonds are sold, officials said.