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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 2:15 PM CDT
School building committee tweaks floor plans for new transportation building

By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com

MATTOON — The school board building committee today fine-tuned plans for a new transportation, maintenance and food service building, and discussed some cost-saving measures as they look to replace the aging Brown Shoe factory.

The Mattoon school district’s architect, Dale Wagner of Indiana-based Gibraltar Design, “has further defined the use of some of these areas” of the floor plan, Superintendent Larry Lilly said during the afternoon committee meeting.

The meeting was attended by board member Rodney Morris, who expressed concern over the cost of the new $1.72-million bus garage, storage and office facility at last month’s full board meeting.

The school board has voted to proceed on the design phase of the project.

It would cost less to erect a new structure and demolish the existing one than to renovate and pay for utilities for the current facility over the next decade, said officials.

At today’s committee meeting, officials discussed rearranging the position of the bus maintenance bays in the new building and eliminating more than 5,000 square feet of parking lot pavement, which would save about $30,000.

The committee also looked at reducing various amenities to increase storage space.

One point of contention brought up at last month’s board meeting was the use of hydraulic lifts rather than pits in the bus maintenance bays.

Board member Robert Miller said he and other school officials looked at similar lifts at another area garage, and concluded that “they’re safe; there’s no way you can go wrong.”

Miller said, “I would recommend them very highly.”

He noted insurance costs would be less if the new transportation building is equipped with lifts rather than pits. Transportation Director Mark Nelson previously indicated the district possibly could obtain some state financial assistance to pay for the hydraulic lifts.

The entire school board is slated to meet next week.

Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.

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FLLWarch wrote on Apr 2, 2008 8:53 AM:

" It sickens me that the Mattoon School District finds it beneficial to have an architect from out of town let alone out of state when there are 2 very capable firms right there in town. I can't believe that they spend the citizens tax dollars out of town. I hope the Indiannapolis economy actually notices the benefits of their dollars. This began with all of the school work done a few years ago. I believe that they used to use local firms when the work consisted of temporary fixes and jobs hardly worth while. When it came time to build new facilities (a much larger profit) they looked to this firm Gibraltar Architects in Indiannapolis, IN. Some may argue that this firm is more suitable since they specialize in designing schools. As stated by the famous architect of the Bauhaus School of Architecture "Specialists are people who repeat the same mistakes." I wonder how much experience this firm has with designing bus garages anyway? "

out-there wrote on Apr 2, 2008 7:37 PM:

" Just looking at Mattoon school dist web site, the presentation on the new trans building ,the arial photo shows there is a fairly new metal building on the back side of the old factory ,it seem to be the same size as the purposed building.Also at the bottom of the cost estimate these figures don't enclude there fee's hazardous materials disposal or asbestos abatement and some other fee's.
One document only encludes cost for the (smoke stack) asbestos abatement
what about the rest of the building?
Also who pay's for the water used to keep the dust down while demo.Sounds like a lot of variables not listed.
Could these be add on's at a later date.What is on the agenda for the rest of the empty lots the school dist have. "

Old Grumpy wrote on Apr 2, 2008 8:28 PM:

" The School Board has ignored local tax-payers wishes for years so why would ignoring local businesses be any different. I will bet this "Bus Barn" will end up fancier than the average tax-payers home in Mattoon.
I wonder how long it will be before they hit the tax-payers with an increase to cover "unexpected" expenses? "

Early Bird wrote on Apr 3, 2008 5:30 AM:

" Now come on folks, the Mattoon school board is only trying to do their part in helping to spur the economy. It's just too bad the economy they are spurring is that of Indiana. It will be interesting to see where the contractor comes from. Bet it won't be one of the contractors paying local taxes, either. And I predict Old Grumpy is right about the finished product, it will no doubt be the Taj Mahal of bus garages, and the local paper's editorial board will write a glowing article praising the school board over it. Bet on it! "