Board doesn’t have to spend $252K on sidewalk

The Andalusia Board of Education may not have to add a $252,000 concrete path to its stadium project, after all.

In a November meeting, Brian Ray of Wyatt Sasser Construction told board members that a change in plans to make a concrete path from the athletic facility to the field, and adding two handicapped parking spaces near the pressbox will cost $252,000. Ray said the construction plans for the project had been approved by the state building commission.

Board members then asked for a meeting with their architect, Chuck Jones of Goodwyn Mills and Cawood, who told them last night that the plans can be changed again.

Jones said the original project plans were value engineered to make the project more affordable. After they were changed, he was asked about adding a path that that would allow a gator-type cart from the field house to the field.

“We went through the design process to come up with that design,” he said, adding that the slope of the stadium means a path cannot be built to go straight down the grassy endzone.

“We met with the contractor and priced it, and it was really, really high,” Jones said. “We were not intending for a change order to be issued for that. We were at a point where we needed to go back and look at another way to do it, and that’s kinda where we are.”

Jones said a possible solution would be to have the proposed path removed from the plans, and letting a plan – and perhaps a path – develop over time. 

Jones assured board members there is “nothing forcing y’all to go do a change order in that amount.”

In an unrelated matter, the board met in a lengthy closed session before adjourning. State law allows governing bodies to meet in closed meetings to discuss real estate transactions, lawsuits or potential lawsuits, or to discuss some personnel issues, or some student disciplinary measures.