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Kittitas 2020 Capital Bond Improvement Program Project
Updates
Every month RPM creates an update report for the Kittitas School District and presents it at the monthly school board meeting. These reports highlight what new progress has been made in the last month on the capital bonds project. Links to the monthly update reports are provided below for more detailed explanation on the progress of the 2020 Bond Program Projects.
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Monthly Update Reports
- August 2020 Monthly Update Report
- September 2020 Monthly Update Report
- October 2020 Monthly Update Report
- November 2020 Monthly Update Report
- December 2020 Monthly Update Report
- January 2021 Monthly Update Report
- February 2021 Monthly Update Report
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We strive to keep the community as up to date as possible on the progress of the capital bonds projects. The updates listed below are ordered in chronological order to with the oldest updates at the top and the newest updates on towards the bottom.
Posted October 6th, 2020
With the help of Rock Project Management Services (RPM) and their advanced industry knowledge the School District has selected and negotiated a contract with Integrus Architecture to work on the design of the 2020 Bond Program Projects. Currently Integrus is hard at working finalizing a design for the New Addition to the Intermediate School, Maintenance and Transportation Facility, Secondary School Security Upgrades, and District Office renovations. A community meeting was held on August 27th 2020 to show design options for the school campus and new addition.
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We utilized King County Directors' Association (KCDA), a purchasing cooperative owned by Washington's public school districts, to secure a competitive quote and contract with Progressive Roofing to complete the re-roofing project on Jim Johnson Memorial Gymnasium. The work is set to be completed Mid-October.
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Belsaas & Smith Construction Inc. was the lowest responsible bidder for both the Secondary School Upgrades Project and the Old High School Demolition & Gym Separation.
Posted November 20th, 2020
The reroofing of Jim Johnson Memorial Gym was completed on October 10th, 2020. The picture below was taken on October 14, 2020 of the completed roof. The project took 6 weeks to complete with a couple days of work halted due to weather conditions. The new gym roof has a warranty that will last for 22 years.
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Belsaas & Smith erected security fencing around the old high school on October 23rd. Summit Environmental is about half way through removing all the hazardous material from the building. The demolition for the building is tentatively scheduled for the third week in December.
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On Wednesday, November 18th the school board decided to move forward with the below picture campus design layout.
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Back in October a community meeting was held to get feedback on the design of the new addition (pictured below). the new addition includes 4 classrooms, 2 kindergarten classrooms, 1 music room, cafeteria, food services kitchen, OT/OP room, SpEd office, new admin office, and associated electrical / mechanical rooms. As of now the architects are working on finalizing the drawing to be able to submit for permitting before the end of January 2021 and hope to go out to bid in early Spring of 2021.
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The designs for the Transportation & Maintenance facility and the District Office renovation are close to being finalized. During the November 18th school board meeting the school board ask to see some changes to the preliminary designs, which Integrus Architecture is hard at work updating the designs to fit the boards requests.
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Posted January 11th, 2021
The month of December was very busy with regards to the Old High School demolition and associated District Office upgrades. The abatement of the Old High School was successfully completed at the beginning of December 2020, giving the contractor B&S to work on prep work to the demolition. The underground storage tank in front of the Old High School was unearthed and a certified cleaning crew came out to remove its contents and clean the interior. The tank will be removed after the Old High School has been demolished in order to allow B&S more room to maneuver during the excavation process.
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Before B&S can demolish the Old High School new water, sewer, communications, and electrical configurations needed to be established for the District Office as the were originally shared with the Old High School. During the week of December 14th, 2020 B&S demolished the breezeway that connected the Old High School and District Office. In Addition, they excavated the ground between the District Office and Gym to investigate the electrical and communications lines. The new communications lines were set up on December 18th, 2020. The goal is to remove the the power pole and transformer that currently reside in-between the District Office and Gym to make way for the intended bus loop. The District office was hooked up to a new water line during the week of December 14th, 2020. During the week of January 4th B&S worked on digging and connecting the new sewer line for the portable and District Office which will no connect to the Intermediate School sewer line as a permanent solution.
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The demolition of the Old High School is no tentatively scheduled to take place in late January or early February. B&S is waiting on a part for the electrical set up, which has a long lead time for delivery. As soon as they receive the part they can connect the electrical and start the demolition and subsequent cleanup work.
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At the December 16th, 2020 school board meeting RPM presented the updated cost estimate from Integrus of the overall project. The cost estimate broke down the cost of every aspect of each project down to the last detail. The total cost estimate exceeded the Capital Bonds Project overall budget and as such RPM requested a outside cost estimating firm do a peer review of the Integrus cost estimate to ensure the numbers were accurate and see if there was any room for cost savings. In the meantime the school board was given the estimated cost savings of cutting the number of bays in the new transportation and maintenance building from two bays down to one bay, which was requested at the prior November board meeting. The estimated cost savings was $156,000 to remove one bay from the Transportation department. Ultimately it was decided at the January 7th, 2021 special board meeting that two bays would be provided for the Transportation department. The peer review of the cost estimate was received and some beneficial cost savings tools were used to get the overall project under budget.
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During the week of December 14th, 2020 after school hours Fulcrum Environmental took material samples at the Primary school to test and create a hazardous material report. This report will be utilized by the contractor that is chosen to build the new addition and demolish the Primary school. On January 7th, 2021 a permit planning review meeting was held between RPM, KSD, Integrus, and the City of Kittitas. This meeting was utilized to go over the permit applications that the Integrus intends to submit at the end of January, and ensure all the proper information and documentation is included when submitted.
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Work at the Secondary School began December 18th, 2020. B&S worked over the schools Christmas break to frame and paint the security vestibule by the time the students returned on January 4th, 2021. The overall plan is for the vestibule doors, library doors, and trophy case to all be completed during the Spring Break, March 23rd through 26th, as not to disrupt the students. Associated HVAC work has been taking place after school hours in the library ceiling with little interruption to staff and students.
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Excavation of the District Office Communications lines
12/15/2020
Beginning of Security Vestibule framework
12/28/2020
Posted March 9th, 2021
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Before the demolition of the Old High School could take place the contractor Belsaas & Smith (B&S) had to re-configure the electrical set up that was connecting the Old High School, portables, JJ Gym, and District Office. A critical part was delivered on January 29th, 2021 and subsequent electrical work started February 2nd. Once the electrical work to the District Office had begun B&S was also able to start the demolition of the Old High School on February 3rd 2021. The demolition has gone smoothly with B&S working efficiently to tear down the building and sorting the material for safe disposal. On March 8th the decommissioned underground storage tank that had previously been used to heat the building was removed from the ground and broken down to haul away. Once the soil underneath the tank is confirmed clean the hole will be filled. B&S is working on leveling and grading the site in preparation to cover with gravel as a interim covering until the end of the Capital Bonds Projects to then be replaced with sod for the end result. A new gas meter was installed by PSE on the side of the JJ Gym to replace the previous one that services the gym and Old High School. B&S is now working on building a new covered walkway/canopy along the North side of the JJ Gym. Construction is estimated to be completed in early April.
The permits for the New Addition and Maintenance & Transportation Building were submitted to the City on January 28th and KSD received initial feedback on the permits and applications. The City of Kittitas has a few conditions that KSD has to comply with before the permits and applications can be approved. Once of these conditions is that a Cul-de-Sac be installed at the end of Pierce ST. for vehicle turnaround. Throughout January and February multiple interior and exterior design meetings were held with KSD staff to get feedback and collaboration on design finishes in the New Addition. The design finishes with the incorporated feedback was presented to the school board on February 17th at their regular boar meeting and approved.
RPM, Integrus, and KSD are advertising the bids for general contractors as of March 9th and will run again March 16th with a mandatory pre-bid walk through on Thursday March 17th. The
bid-opening is tentatively scheduled for April 7th where all bids will be read aloud in public and the lowest responsive bidder will be chosen for the contract. The idea is that the contractor will begin work as soon as they are onboarded and construction can begin. A list of alternates were created by KSD with the help of RPM and IA to have potential contractor provide estimates for should the overall base bid pricing be good.
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Beginning of Old High School Demolition
02/03/2021
Old High School Demo Site View
03/08/2021
Posted January 11th, 2021
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Posted April 26th, 2021
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The Old High School has been completely demolished and the sight was graded and a layer of gravel was put over the the top of the demolition sight for maintenance purposes. During the demolition the 10,000 gallon underground storage tank was removed, tested, and disposed of. A small undergrounds concrete structure was unearthed near the old boiler room and the decision was made to remove the concrete structure to avoid issues for future development. The previous gas meter that fed the Old High School and JJ Gym was a commercial grade meter which was more more than the facilities needed. RPM worked with Puget Sound Energy (PSE) in March to install a new gas meter that better fit the facilities needs. The new meter is now located on the east side of the exterior of the gym.
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With the Old High School being demolished B&S started work on building out the canopy on the North side of the Gym. The canopy will serve as a covered location for students to load and unload from the buses in the future. Frosted windows to the girls and buys locker rooms were installed for more efficient insulation and more privacy. The canopy will have lighting underneath and a new door and frame will be installed to the boys locker room to match that of the girls locker room. B&S completed the work on the canopy in early April which then allowed Progressive roofing to come in and install insulation and roofing to the canopy to match the new roof of the gym.
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For the New Addition RPM and KSD ran ads in multiple publications on March 9th and March 16th. These ads were requesting a bid from qualified general contractors. A pre-bid walk through was held on March 17th at the Intermediate School campus. All questions from contractors were due to RPM no later than March 30th, with the bid opening originally set for April 7th, 2021. The bid opening was pushed to April 15th, 2021 with the hope to allow more contractors to put in a bid. One bid was received on April 15th from Concord Construction Inc. making them the lowest responsive bidder. As of right now RPM, KSD, and Concord Construction are working together to confirm the scope of work and begin the contract negotiations, with more updates to come. In the meantime RPM and KSD secured a contract with Pacific Mobile to move the portables to it's final location on the South end of the Intermediate school in July 2021.
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The design layout for the the trophy case at the Secondary School was changed slightly to better accommodate the School District. These changes altered the schedule for the trophy case a small amount. Over the spring break B&S cut out and framed the new library door entrance and worked on the electrical components of the vestibule. The trophy case was framed up and installed early April. In order to provide the level of security the school wanted perforated vinyl with a decal was chosen as the best option to allow visibility from the library into the vestibule. The decal will read "KITTITAS ATHELETICS" to showcase all the athletics accomplishments of the students. The actual storefront of the vestibule was shipped from the east coast the third week in April and is set to arrive the beginning of May with installation anticipated right after. Two of three security cameras were installed on the Secondary campus for added security. The third camera will be installed once B&S can install a pole and draw power for the camera at the front of the parking lot.
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Old High School Demo Site View
03/17/2021
Aerial View of Proposed Campus Layout
03/08/2021
Draft Graphic of New Addition Cafeteria
03/08/2021
Framed in Trophy Case at the Secondary School
04/13/2021
New Library Door Entrance at Secondary School
04/22/2021
Posted May 24, 2021
Since the last post the trophy case at the Secondary School has been completely framed in, painted, and glass installed. The decal material had to be special ordered from the Copy Shop in Ellensburg in order to accommodate the need for obscured vision from inside the vestibule into the Library. The decal material has arrived and is being printed on the perforated vinyl with actual install on the glass estimated at the beginning of June 2021.
Since the bid opening on April 15, 2021 RPM has been working with OSPI to get approval to sign a contract with Concord Construction. The School Board approved a resolution for an Intent to Award the contract to Concord Construction at the April 21, 2021 board meeting. On May 20, 2021 OSPI finally gave approval to sign the contract with Concord Construction. Due to the fact that the bid was over the KSD budget RPM worked the school board to reduce the scope of work, thus reducing the proposed contract amount to get the project within budget. A pre-construction meeting is tentatively set to be held on May 27, 2021 with RPM, Integrus, Concord Construction, KSD staff, and all the major subs from Concord Construction. This meeting is to go over all aspects of the project including schedule, laydown area, safety, etc.
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One of the first things Concord will have to start work on is prepping the new location for the portable in order to start work on the New Addition once the portable is moved. The portable at this time is tentatively scheduled to be moved the week of July 12, 2021, well before school is st to start in September 2021.
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Once construction has started more updates will be posted. Stay Tuned!
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Posted June 10, 2021
Construction is underway at the Intermediate School Campus for the Kittitas School District. A very successful and informational pre-construction meeting was held at the Intermediate School on may 27th with Concord Construction, RPM, Integrus, KSD, and all sub-contractors. All aspects of the project were discussed to set the tone and standard for the project moving forward. Concord will utilize the west parking lot off Okanogan St. for their laydown area during construction. a notice was sent out prior to students and staff noting the inability to use the parking lot for the foreseeable future. It was noted the street parking, primary school parking lot, and new gravel parking lot in front of the District Office on Pierce St. can be utilized.
As of June 1, 2021 security fencing was erected around the construction area to ensure safety and security for the remainder of the project. Concord started tearing out the current asphalt and concrete to prep the location for the footprint of the new addition.
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