School board approves bids to repair, upgrade Wescott Field

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, March 26, 2002

The Austin School Board held a special session Monday to approve the bids for the repair and upgrade of Wescott Field.

Tuesday, March 26, 2002

The Austin School Board held a special session Monday to approve the bids for the repair and upgrade of Wescott Field.

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David Kane, an architect with Kane and Johnson Architects, Inc., the firm which has designed the improvements for Wescott Field, described possible, but not vital repair and upgrade work.

The first alternate project would be to keep the wooden benches already installed in the stadium, rather than replacing them with new metal seats.

The second is the possibility of installing additional handicapped seats. The renovations already include the required number, so it would not be necessary to add more.

The third alternate project, Kane explains, would be "the reuse of the heavy duty brackets already in place. They’re in excellent shape and are very heavy, but after years and years of weathering, they’ve turned an interesting patina, but they could be dipped, cleaned and we could apply a power coat finish to make them look better."

Kane explained the fourth alternate project is the possibility of putting a powder coat finish on the hand rails down the aisles of the stadium, an improvement that would be a purely "aesthetic upgrade."

The fifth possible upgrade of the stadium would be to install vinyl-coated chain link fabric to the bottom of the stadium railings as opposed to uncoated chain link fabric.

Lori Volz, director of finance and operations, told the board the lowest bidder for the vital upgrades and repairs of Wescott Field was Paragon Constructor’s, Inc.

"Now what we’re needing to do is spend some more time researching our options. For instance, if we choose to keep the wood seating, we’ll have to remove the benches, refurbish them and put them back on, using donated labor," Volz explained. This would deduct $65,000 from the cost of the stadium repairs.

Volz explained the alternative repairs would be discussed at a facilities committee meeting Thursday.

Paragon provided a base bid of $397,000, while the other four contracting firms gave base bids ranging from $450,000 to $589,000. Kane said he had "no problem recommending Paragon" which also has done work on Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis.

The board accepted the bid.

Kane explained the materials for the project would be ordered as soon as the finer details are worked out in the facilities committee and "construction will start sometime thereafter."

"We need good weather to lay concrete … so hopefully, we’ll have that underway by May 1," he said. The renovation projects must be substantially completed by Aug. 1 so sports teams can use the field.

Call Amanda L. Rohde at 434-2214 or e-mail her at amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com