Problems with the heating system, no Internet and a phone connection that took months to work properly were all problems with the Española School District’s last major construction project—Alcalde Elementary School.
The next large construction project the District has slated is rebuilding Fairview Elementary. The request for proposals for contractors and subcontractors was published at the beginning of January. All bids were due Jan. 30.
To ensure the same mistakes are not made for the Fairview project, Board Member Pablo Lujan brought up the topic during the Jan. 22 Española School Board meeting.
“ETS (Fairview Elementary School) is a big concern for me,” Lujan said.
Lujan said the Board had asked that certain parts of the project — low-voltage wiring — be pulled out of the contract before going forward to bid. Low-voltage wiring is necessary for all telecommunications, including the phone systems, emergency fire alarms and Internet.
Superintendent Danny Trujillo said the bidding process for contractors and subcontractors has already been approved and started. The low-voltage wiring was not pulled out of the contract, he said.
Lujan said he was concerned when the District paid top dollar for a project, only to have an incomplete finished product.
“We’ve seen what problems it’s caused the District,” Lujan said. “At the end of the day, we’re not where we’re supposed to be and that is not going to happen again.”
Trujillo said for this particular project, the plan is to add to the contract once it begins, only if need be.
District Technology Operation Manager Andrew Trujillo said the decision to bundle the low-voltage wiring into the overall contract was a cost-saving measure. In the past, the E-Rate Program, which gives money to schools and libraries for discounted telecommunication services, has paid the majority of costs for wiring. However, this year, E-Rate is cutting back their grants.
“We decided it was best to leave it in the contract,” Andrew Trujillo said.
For the entire Fairview Elementary construction project, the Public Schools Facility Authority is paying 64 percent of the maximum allowable cost of $11.8 million. The District will pay a maximum of $4.2 million for the overall construction project. With the low-voltage wiring in the project’s contract, the District will only have to pay for 36 percent of the cost for the wiring.
Andrew Trujillo did acknowledge there were some problems with the installation of the low-voltage wiring at Alcalde Elementary School. To prevent problems for the Fairview Elementary School project, he has requested to be more involved in the process.
“I’d like to be more involved and hopefully some of the issues will be resolved,” he said.
However, Lujan was not satisfied with this answer.
“I’m not disputing anything you’re saying,” Lujan said.
Instead, he was upset because the Board had requested that a portion of the contract be pulled out and, “obviously they were not pulled out.”