Woodruff Construction Asks Ames School Board for Fresh Start

A regional president of Woodruff Construction told the Ames Community School Board Monday that he hoped to start the Miller Avenue school project with a clean slate.

No one spoke at the public hearing held before the Ames Community School Board voted unanimously to award the Miller Avenue elementary school project to Woodruff Construction, Kruck Plumbing & Heating and DeVries Electric.

But Board Member Rodney Briggs asked before the vote, if anyone in the audience, who represented Woodruff would like to speak about how they would alleviate the strain felt between the board and Woodruff on the Ames High School remodeling project.

“I would like to hear from them ...” Briggs said.

Woodruff Construction and the board had a contentious relationship during the 2003 high school remodeling project that led to a state audit, according to a recent article in the Ames Tribune.

Jason Rechkemmer, Woodruff's central regional president, said Monday, “What's occurred in the past is in the past. We would like to move forward with a clean slate,” Rechkemmer said.

Team members involved in the project are new, he said.

And Board Member Bill Talbot said Woodruff did a good job on the Nevada Elementary School.

The board voted unanimously 6-0 to award contracts to the lowest bidders for a total project amount of about $9.6 million --- $1.5 million under the estimated construction cost.

Mike Espeset, school board member, said all bidders were all known players in the industry and later said that it would be difficult to accept anything other than the lowest bid.

“If we tried to challenge it, we would be at it for awhile,” Espeset said.

The Miller Avenue school is the first of three new elementary buildings that will be constructed with a $55 million bond referendum approved by voters in April 2012. The project will also renovate two others. The Miller Avenue school would replace Edwards Elementary, but the boundaries won't be exactly the same, meaning some Edwards families could be sent to different elementary schools, when the new building opens.

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Find more information on the bidders below:

Woodruff's base bid and alternates amounted to a total bid of $6.285 million for construction. Kruck offered $2.321 million and DeVries offered $980,000.

Rochon offered the lowest base bid for general construction, but once alternates including a wood gym floor, terrazzo flooring, roof monitors (that allow natural light into the building) and burnished CMU (decorative concrete blocks) were added Woodruff's bid was the lowest.

Dean Synder's base bid with selected alternates was $6.686 million, Edge Commercial's was $6.612 million, HPC Construction's bid was $6.449 million and Rochon was $6.298 million.

Other mechanical construction bids from Brockway Mechanical, Excel Mechanical and LA Fulton were all above $2.5 million with selected alternates.

Other bids for electric were $1.108 million from Drees Heating & Plumbing, and $1.132 million from Van Maanen Electric.

SEE MORE ON PATCH

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• UPDATED: Miller Ave. Elementary School Construction Bids Come In
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