The fourth- through sixth-graders enrolled in the Mesa Vista School District are the first students to attend class in the recently completed Ojo Caliente Elementary School.
Crews finished the 21,938-square-foot elementary and administration building, just days before the Aug. 16, start of the 2017-18 School Year. The project took slightly less than a year to complete.
The majority of the $8.8 million project was paid for with the $4.3 million in revenue the District raised through bond sales during a five-year period. The remaining $4.4 million came from the Public Schools Capital Outlay Council matching funds allocations and a $414,000 Council loan.
Voters approved the bond sales in 2012 and the first bonds were sold in 2013. According to the funding formula outlined in 2013, the state would pay for 52 percent of the project and the District would be responsible for the remaining 48 percent.
Albuquerque-based Bradbury Stamm received the award from the evaluation Council, made up of five unidentified District employees and members of Albuquerque’s fbt Architects, even though the company didn’t enter the lowest bid.
Stamm’s winning $8,281,400 bid was the second-lowest of the five companies that showed interest in the project, through the Request for Proposals process.
However, unlike an Invitation to Bid, which mandates the lowest bidder receive the work, a Request for Proposals is awarded based on several components, which include the contractor’s experience, the technical proposals they submit with their package and in-person interviews.
An additional $525,218 cost occurred after the scope of work changed to include the administration wing.
The addition of the administration wing pushed the total to a final price of $8.8 million.
Alcalde’s R&M Construction came in with the lowest bid, estimating it would cost them $7,400,925 to do the job, with optional work, such as installing a security system and paving the road leaving the site.
The optional work didn’t include the administration wing.
Mesa Vista Superintendent Ernesto Valdez asked the Council for the loan to cover the cost of the administration wing because he said the administration needed a place to call home. He said the District will pay the loan back through future bond sales.
He said if the voters don’t approve a bond issue to cover the $414,000 loan, he will ask the Council to absorb the cost.
“We will have to ask the community for a bond,” he said. “If it don’t pass (sic), we will ask for loan forgiveness.”
Valdez said a similar situation arose when he was the superintendent in Peñasco. The Council loaned the Peñasco School District approximately $50,000 to complete a project. When it came time to repay the loan, the Peñasco School District couldn’t garner enough voter support to raise the $50,000, so the Council stepped in and forgave it.
Minor issues
Crews returned to the site in September, shortly after school started, to investigate a foul odor emanating from inside the walls, that was eventually attributed to the work of fast-moving contractors.
District Facilities Director Geoff Griego told the Board during its Sept. 25 meeting, the smell was attributed to contractors hanging the dry wall before the plumbing contractors could seal off all the plumbing traps.
Board President Marvyn Jaramillo said he was pleased with how well Griego handled the matter.
“(The) smell was fixed as explained to me,” he said. “Not sure how it got that far, but glad it was taken care of in a timely manner.”
Board member Andy Lopez said the building was needed to replace the old elementary school, which was built almost 50 years ago.
The school’s age presented challenges to school officials when it came time to meet existing construction code and safety standards.
He said the District waited until the “perfect moment” to seek funding from Authority officials. Because of the advanced state of disrepair, the elementary school project rose as high as 19 on the Public Schools Capital Outlay Council’s list.
The list determines the order of funding for public school projects.
Shortly after crews broke ground on the now-completed project, Lopez suggested the District should combine the El Rito and Ojo Caliente elementary schools. The idea is to convert the El Rito Elementary School building into a middle school.
Creating a space designated specifically for middle school students could improve classroom outcomes, Lopez said.
He believes the seventh- and eighth-graders would do better if they had their own school, because they will no longer be distracted by older students.
They currently attend classes at the Mesa Vista Middle and High School.
Jaramillo said such a plan would require input from state regulators and the public.
He also said the administration has not taken any steps to consolidate the schools.
“That is something PED (the Public Education Department) would have to take action on,” he said. “Ernesto should have town hall meetings with the community and parents to get data to introduce to the Board and PED.”