Libby schools unable to accept new bid for kitchen

At the Thursday special school board meeting, the only bid for the Libby Middle/High School’s planned new kitchen was not viable under the board’s proposed plan. 

The bid from Idagon Homes, a company based in Sandpoint, Idaho, came in at $426,000 for the complete project, which is twice the amount expected by the school board and the board’s consultant Jackola Engineering & Architecture, PC., a Kalispell-based architecture firm.

Superintendent Craig Barringer originally said the kitchen remodeling project was proposed by Jackola to cost between $198,000 and $250,000, depending on the bids received. 

School district business manager Leslie Forster and Barringer said the very highest the district would have accepted was $270,000.

Although nine potential contractors toured the facility last week, only one filed a bid.

Idagon proposed other alternatives to cut down costs. The first was to omit the dishwashing equipment from the plan, which would save $8,682. The second, to omit the salad bar, would slice $6,617. The final option was to omit the planned prep tables, which would save $10,808. However, these three options added up still would not lower the rate to the board’s budget.

The kitchen project had become a priority after unpredicted developments came up with the food vendors who provided the district with food — first, provider Sandy Cook died in a rollover crash, and then another vendor, Frank Hendrickson, pulled out his contract. 

Although the district asked voters in 2013 to approve a tax increase to pay for teacher salaries, building improvements and other costs, members realized that the district has enough money to pay for the proposed project.

The school board members were at odds about what to do since the board will not be able to afford the bid.

“Maybe this just can’t happen this year,” board member Ellen Johnston said.

Several options were floated around. One idea board members considered was that the board could re-open bidding for the kitchen. 

However, Barringer said, re-opening the bids would only extend the kitchen building further into the school year and even potentially into winter. 

Johnston said that would be too late, and it would be distracting to the students during the school year. No final further action was decided.

“We’ll just have to start back at the beginning,” Barringer said. “We have to reconsider now.”