Plans For High School Press Box Hit Snag

Plans for a at the high school hit a snag last month when bids for the material and work came back significantly higher than what was anticipated.

The district received a grant of $75,000, from state Sen. John Flanagan’s office to use to replace the condemned press box in May. Plans to move forward were stalled when the best bid for the work came in $55,000 over the budget. The bids included materials, delivery and installation.

“We were flabbergasted,” said Assistant Superintendent of Finance, Phil Kenter, at a recent board meeting. “We did our homework on what it should cost.” The district then rejected the bids.

According to Kenter, the district decided to rebid for just the press box and received one bid, for $70,024. Kenter thinks that is something they can work with. The price includes shipping and the necessary features the district was looking for such as roof access, lighting and safety fencing.

According to Agruso, the press box that is there now was condemned and unable to be insured because it was not up to code.

“It must have two forms of egress,” said Agruso back in May. “We were using ladders to access it. The last one was condemned because of that.”

The one caveat on the lower bid is that it does not include the cost of labor. Also slowing down the works is the wait for a permit from New York state, which Kenter said should hopefully come through sometime in late October.

Kenter said at the Tuesday evening meeting that they were working on a donation for labor costs and called it “just about there.”

Bullet aid received by Flanagan's office was reported back in May as $60,000. Kenter said that the grant was increased after May to $75,000.