The Homewood District 153 school board agreed to sell $3.6 million in funding bonds, and hired an architectural firm and a project manager for its major life safety work this summer.
(File photo)
The biggest project will be replacing the roof over the James Hart Junior High, Millennium School, and the District Office at 183rd and Aberdeen. The Homewood-
Flossmoor Sports Complex at the north end of the building is not part of this work.
The board agreed to hire Wight & Co. as its architectural firm for $208,000. Terence A. Moeller, Wight vice president, said his team has started design work in preparation for the March call for construction bids on the work.
Superintendent Dale Mitchell said District 153 has been happy with the work Wight has done in the past. He said the firm has already been surveying the equipment on the roof to determine how best to get the repairs done.
Wight will work in conjunction with Douglas J. Lim, vice president of Gilbane Building Co., who was hired as the project manager for $279,000. Lim said his firm is the biggest company in the U.S. managing school repair work. He said although the roof over Hart is the major project, there are other smaller projects that will be done, including roof repairs at Churchill and Willow Schools.
Lim will be responsible for the budget and for working with the crews to make certain the projects are done on schedule. Students will return for the 2015-2016 school year on Aug. 27.
The district’s actions to sell the $3.6 million in funding bonds will underwrite these major life safety projects, said John Gibson, chief school business official.
He expects the district will sell the bonds within the next two months and is hoping for a low interest rate. When the district announced the $3.6 million in debt certificates in January, the interest rate was 1.4 percent.
The life safety bonds will, over time, replace other debt the district will be paying off, so taxpayers will not see their tax rates increase to cover these construction costs, Gibson explained.
Contact Marilyn Thomas at [email protected]