Colby board approves duo of projects
The Colby school board approved a pair of maintenance projects for the school at its monthly meeting on May 16.
The board voted in favor of approving an asbestos team to seal off the weight room and other rooms that might be adjacent to it to remove asbestos tiles and other materials that have been in place for decades.
The project began when the ice machine located in the weight room froze, then overflowed, causing flooding in the room. The mats that were on the weight room floor were ripped up and in the process, a crew discovered one section of the room had asbestos tile under the flooring.
Colby Superintendent Dr. Steven Kolden said the school acted quickly to put a plan in place to remove the tiles as well as two blackboards that may have been stuck to the wall using asbestos adhesive.
The school sought two bids for the project. Brack Thermal Systems Inc. placed a bid at $6,210 with a $550 additional charge for third-party monitoring. The second bid was placed at $15,800 by Robinson Brothers Environmental Inc. out of Waunakee.
Facilities director Scott Rachu said Robinson Brothers has been extremely busy and therefore could potentially be charging more for jobs which explains the large difference in the quotes.
The board ultimately determined that they would accept the Brack Thermal Systems bid as presented and begin the project this summer.
In another maintenance project, the board was faced with multiple bids for rewiring an outdated HVAC system in the high school.
This project involves getting air conditioning to most of the high school before the 2022-23 school year begins. Multiple electrical panels need to be replaced and upgraded in order to properly get air conditioning to the rest of the building.
Local contracting company A.C. Holtzhausen and Son, Inc. quoted the school $62,895.28 to fix the panels and reroute the wiring through the school. Wausau contractor VanErt Electric Company quoted the district $106,200 to fix the panels. When asked why these two quotes were so far off from one another, Rachu said Holtzhausen has worked on the school before and knows how to perform the project in a way that will save time and money whereas VanErt would be going a different, more expensive route with the panels.
The board elected to go with Holtzhausen and Son, Inc and that project will begin this summer.
_ Kolden said he sent out a memo to staff notifying them of a change in the school’s health insurance rates had increased by 9.5 percent while employees’ dental insurance rates had increased by six percent.
_ Colby Metal donated three disc golf baskets along with the paint and labor used to make them to the school after two baskets were damaged in recent years.
