Changes made to plans for WCHS stadium renovations

An audible is being called on the Whitley County High School’s athletic improvement project for the football field due to a lack of bids for a portion of the project.

The Whitley County Board of Education met for their monthly meeting Thursday, where board members were presented with various bids for the turfing and renovations at the football field and another planned project for the track at Whitley County Middle School.

As part of the original plans at the high school, the current concession and restroom building was expected to receive a number of upgrades. The existing building was to be gutted inside and rebuilt, with an addition being built onto it to increase the size of the structure to allow for improved concessions, expanded restrooms and an added visitor locker room.

However, Superintendent John Siler informed the board during Thursday’s meeting that the overhaul of the concession/restroom building would likely be put on hold.

Siler said that there had been discussions between school officials and the project architects prior to the bidding process regarding similar jobs throughout the state, in which school officials learned that due to a large number of ongoing construction projects that there have been a number of jobs that have received no bids.

For that reason, the field turf and remodeling/addition of the building were bid separately, the latter of which received no response from contractors.

“That project is just kind of tabled, I guess you could say, now. We’ll just kind of sit and see how this one goes. We just didn’t have anybody wanting to bid on it,” said Siler.

One bid, though, was received for the turf, which came from Mid-America Sports Construction in the amount of $1,374,340.

Siler confirmed that the cost and scope of the work would include required grading and a retaining wall that is necessary to help level a slight slope in the field.

During the board’s November 2022 meeting, Suzanne Irwin, a project architect with Ross Tarrant Architects, informed board members of the slope, saying that it runs from the visitor’s side of the field to the home side, with the biggest variation being in the back right corner of the endzone when viewing the field from the home side.

Due to the slope, a retaining wall will be installed on that end of the field, which is near the concession/restroom area. The wall will not be visible from the field and will be no higher than approximately three feet at its highest point.

The board approved the lone bid, also approving a bid from PCC Sports for the WCMS track replacement and renovation project. The bid for the track was $755,746. Two other bids were received for that project, but were not discussed.

Work on both projects is expected to begin next month, with the track expected to be completed in June and the football field in August.

In other board of education business:

– A revised school resource officer contract with the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department for the 2022-2023 school year was approved.

Siler noted that the board has been budgeting for four SROs for the past several years, though the district has only been provided three for most of that time due to a staffing shortage at the sheriff’s department. But Sheriff Bill Elliotte, who took office earlier this month, has been able to bring on a full staff, which Siler said is going to help the district as well.

The revised contract will have the sheriff’s department providing the full force of budgeted SROs. One will remain stationed at the central campus where WCHS and WCMS are, with the remainder patrolling the other schools on a rotating basis.

The contract also provides the option for a fifth SRO to work on an hourly/independent contractor basis.

– The board approved a bid from RMB Company to upgrade the gas/diesel pumps at the district’s main campus. The upgrade will bring more modern tech to the district’s pumping station, allowing for more accurate tracking of fuel reserves and logging of used resources.