Advance school district awards contract for safe-room project

ADVANCE, Mo. -- The Advance School Board on Thursday awarded a contract to Sides Construction of Jackson to begin construction a FEMA safe room on the school grounds this year.

Sides Construction had the low base bid of $2,179,342.

In addition, Sides had the low bids for five additional bids for two classrooms, a paved parking area for the safe room and wastewater drainage.

The bid opening Oct. 15 for the projects drew bids from Brockmiller Construction, Keifner Brothers Construction, Sides Construction and Zoellner Construction. All bids were studied by school officials, architects and engineers before the final decision.

"They (Sides) are a very well-known and reputable company with extensive experience in FEMA safe room and school construction," Seiler said. "We are exceedingly fortunate to have them as the general contractor for this project. Over the next few days, a construction contract will be drawn up and signed, which gives Sides Construction the permission to proceed with the project. I anticipate that they will be on site very soon to begin work. If Mother Nature is reasonably cooperative, I also anticipate the FEMA safe room project being completed in late summer of 2016."

Earlier this year, the Advance School District received a nearly $1 million FEMA grant, with a $441,934 match from the district, to build a basic storm shelter that would have been sufficient to house a student population of 430, along with a limited number of residents.

Pertinent address:

Advance, Mo.