PARKERSBURG - The Wood County Board of Education has begun the process of soliciting an architectural engineering firm to handle facility needs within the district.
The board Wednesday agreed with Wood County Schools administrators to begin the process of looking for a company to handle all architectural engineering needs for the county, with the bleachers at Stadium Field being a top priority. A legal ad was already circulating Thursday morning, and officials hope to have responses from prospective companies by Dec. 20.
The legal ad ran in Thursday's newspaper and will run again Dec. 4, said district Finance Director Connie Roberts.
Article Photos
Photo by Jeff Baughan
A view of the Parkersburg High side of Stadium Field from midfield.
The ad calls for "expressions of interest of interest from firms to provide architectural and engineering services for the board including bond planning, and design and construction administration for the projects listed in the 2010-2020 CEFP (comprehensive education facilities plan) 10-year plan and other such services as approved by the board for projects not in the 10-year plan."
"Once a firm is selected, each job they do would be awarded separately," Roberts said, but so long as those jobs fall within the CEFP or specific board requests, they would not be bid out for the architectural and engineering portions.
Roberts said the idea is to have continuity for district facility planning.
By using one firm, "they know your school system, they know your facilities," she said. "It makes for a good relationship."
Roberts said she spoke with officials at Cabell County Schools who use a single firm for their architectural engineering needs, and they expressed satisfaction with the system. Roberts said she also spoke with officials at the state School Building Authority, which oversees school construction throughout the state, and they said retaining one firm is allowed within state code.
"The SBA said other counties are doing this and explained the options to me," she said.
Superintendent Pat Law said officials have not yet begun assembling a committee to help select a firm.
"We've tossed around a couple of ideas of folks we'd want to include, but no one specifically by name," he said. "I'm thinking it will be a fairly small committee, mostly administrators, perhaps someone the stadium committee, but still a relatively small committee."
Law said selecting the proper firm will involve understanding all the needs of the school system and its facilities, not just Stadium Field, though the field bleachers will be a top priority for any firm hired.
"If Stadium Field was repaired next week, this process would still continue beyond that," Law said.
