The Putnam County School Board voiced doubts Thursday night about the contractor meeting the April 30 completion date for the Old Park View School remodel.
ESG Representative John Waddell told the board the project has made significant progress over the past month and said he still believes the “aggressive” deadline can be met. However, Maintenance Supervisor John Magura said the contractor must still undergo an additional review by the plans examiner in Nashville as requested by the State Fire Marshal.
“We know that there are some revisions that have to be made, no doubt,” Magura said. “But we don’t know if the plans examiner in Nashville is going to accept what they are proposing. He may not, and that may impact their schedule.”
Waddell said he is hopeful to submit plans for approval next week. Magura said personally, he does not think it will be next week.
“Things just don’t move that fast,” Magura said. “But they’re not stopping their work. But again, what if there are a few things that the State Fire Marshal’s Plans Examiner wants them to add to the project? If it’s a fixture, if it’s something that they have to order, who knows how long that will take to get that and to install it. So we still have another hurdle, in my opinion, we have got to jump over. But regardless of how the State Fire Marshal issue is at the present day, I personally do not think they’re going to be done by the end of April.”
Waddell acknowledged that there is still a lot of work left to do. Waddell said ESG has worked on some Saturdays to try to make up time. Board Member Jill Ramsey suggested that working weekends more aggressively is how they can make up the time.
“I think that’s where you’re going to have to be aggressive because when I walked through today, I can not see that it’s going to be finished by then,” Ramsey said.
Though the board had several concerns, Magura said he was okay with the board approving the estimated $628,700 payment for the project’s progress. Thursday night was not the first time the board brought up concerns about the project being behind.
In other business, the board approved an agreement with D&H Electronic Systems, Inc. of Lebanon to replace the fire alarm panel at Algood Elementary School for an estimated $10,000. The board also approved the purchase of replacement furniture for Northeast Elementary from Ernie Morris for an estimated $15,000.
The board approved the purchase of fire-rated doors and hardware for White Plains Academy from William S. Trimble Company of Knoxville, Tennessee, for an estimated $10,370.
The School Board also approved the fourth year of a contract agreement with Turf Masters Landscape Management for systemwide lawn maintenance. The agreement contains a 3% cost of living increase and the addition of the Extended Learning Center for a total per-mow cost of an estimated $9,,600.