Bid approved to replace track surface

The Kimball Board of Education held a special meeting June 30 to review and vote on bids to replace the all-weather track at the high school.

The condition of the all-season track is deteriorating, according to a report given to the board by Activities Director Ken Smith at the regular board meeting on June 8, at which time he stated that the window to address the concern was rapidly narrowing due to the excessive rain at that time.

“My concern is that if we get to the point where we are not finished by the end of summer I’m going to be scrambling to look at different places to host our track meets, especially our conference track meets,” Smith stated at that meeting.

Superintendent Marshall Lewis stated that three bids were received for the project, anticipated to be completed at the end of August or possibly early September.

In general terms, Lewis said the first two base bids were to replace the base mat on the existing asphalt and apply structural spray to the new six-lane surface.

Additionally, the third base bid was to apply red structural spray to the approaches for the long jump, the triple jump and the pole vault.

An alternate bid was made for black structural spray for the high jump approach.

Ultimately the board voted unanimously to award the bid to Renner Sports Services in the amount of $92,129.00 for the first base bid to replace the base mat on the existing asphalt.

The same price will also cover the cost of base bid three, to apply red structural spray to the approaches, and the alternate bid to apply black structural spray to the high jump approach.

If the district had not approved a bid and moved forward to remedy the concern, Smith previously stated that the district would have been faced with hosting meets at other facilities, such as Sidney, and that in doing so they would face further complications of finding enough people willing to travel to work those meets.

“Ultimately there were three bids, and we selected a company that we believe was the best overall value for Kimball Public Schools,” Lewis said.

Board members Jarrod Schnell and Teresa Keller were not present at the meeting.