VO-TECH BACK ON TRACK

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education likely will restore about $1 million in construction costs to the district's Vocational Career Center.

Two months ago the board scaled back $1 million in costs from the design of the school because of higher-than-anticipated bids and postponed awarding a contract for construction.

The school board voted in executive session Monday to reinstate the original design. It is expected to decide on that design at a special board meeting Aug. 30.

Superintendent Dr. Dan Steska said the combined design changes total $1,084,135 and would increase the total contracted amount to $10,938,635.

Steska said school officials believe more state funding for the building will be made available.

The lowest bid on construction, submitted by Kiefner Brothers Construction Co., was $10,991,000. The bid was 73 percent higher than the original estimate of $6.3 million.

When the bids were rejected, school officials, including vocational school director Harold Tilley, began working with the low bidder to reduce the cost. School board members later approved a scaled-back design and awarded Kiefner a contract for $9,854,500.

The design approved in June included modifications to the site development and elimination of energy efficient heating, air and electrical specifications and kitchen equipment for the culinary arts program. Some fixtures and other equipment also were downgraded or deleted from the design.

"Now there's a realization the funding doesn't support that dream of dreams, and we're looking at what would be practical and we could financially support," board President Dr. Ferrell Ervin had said at the time.

The newest design reinstates the energy efficiency system as well as a paint booth for auto-body classes and new kitchen equipment for culinary arts.

To be considered Aug. 30 are deletion of costs to sod the property, construction of some parking areas that won't be used immediately and parking islands in the parking lot.

"We added some things back and made other deletions as we worked to adjust the project," Steska said. "In some cases we looked for less expensive ways of doing some of the things we wanted to do."

The vocational school is among a number of construction projects included in the first phase of a district master plan. The projects are funded by a combination of state and local funds, and interest from invested money.

Steska said school officials thought the original design might be restored after re-examining all of the projects. What they learned was that earned interest was higher than expected and additional state aid might be available to cover the difference between the original estimate and the actual cost.

The district has applied to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for an additional $1.8 million to cover the increased costs of the school. School officials won't know if the request will be granted before March.

Based upon the scaled-back design, Cape Girardeau schools would have an estimated $1.5 million in surplus construction funding if the state grants the additional money. By reinstating the original design of the vocational school, the school district is able to build a close version of its ideal vocational school without undermining other planned projects, Steska said.

"With the changes, we believe we'll have about $405,000 to carry into phase two or to use as contingency during the projects," Steska said. "This should be the minimum amount that we have to carry over.

"We decided we're going to go ahead and spend that surplus down, because we feel like we'll still be in the black at the end of that project," he said.

Any remaining surplus would be carried over into the second phase of the master plan. Voters must approve a second, $14.1 million bond issue before the next phase can begin.

The vocational center will be built on property west of Kingshighway and Southern Expressway. It borders a gravel section of Silver Springs Road. The building is slated for completion in September 2000.