AMBOY - Amboy School District 272 recently got some good news regarding the junior high construction project. Superintendent Joshua Nichols said the result of a bid opening held on Sept. 18 was that the project is now able to again move forward. 

The board held a Finance/Building & Grounds Committee meeting on Sept. 26 and approved three of the bids. They include Precast (walls) awarded to DuKane ($1,200,306), Steel awarded to S.G. Krauss ($785,660) and Kitchen Equipment awarded to Servco ($203,348). 

Nichols noted that the kitchen bid had to be approved now because the current high school freezer has to be relocated before excavation can begin. The other Sept. 18 bids will be presented for board approval in October after CTS has gone through them to ensure those bids contain all of the correct specifications. 

While the new bids were not ideal, Nichols said by substituting the type of floor and ceiling tile along with some other inside items, the project’s reserve will cover the higher bids. 

“We don’t have to ask for more money or do a complete design change,” he emphasized. “The building will be the same size as originally planned - the classrooms, gym and offices will all stay the same size - but some interior things will change. It’s not necessarily what we want to do, but we have to keep the cost down so we can move forward and it will be a much better junior high than we have now.” 

Nichols said he was relieved that these bids were more budget friendly than the first round and the district will not have redesign the project. “If we had to do that, it would be an even larger expense and there would have to be serious cuts,” he said. “We are very excited to get moving forward again. The junior high and the new gym will be built - that’s good news and we’re really excited about that.”