North Hills School Board baseball field bid comes in too high

A larger than normal audience for the Sept. 7 North Hills School Board meeting showed up and several, including some associated with the baseball program, had supportive comments for a new multi-purpose hilltop field.

The school board members agreed with them, but cost is a major concern — so much so that a motion to move the item to the Sept. 21 meeting agenda for further discussion was unanimously approved.

Redeveloping the baseball field on the North Hills High School/North Hills Middle School hilltop campus into a multi-use field took a step forward on June 8 when the board approved spending $135,300 for the design and bidding documents for the project.

The surveying, designing, permitting and bid work will be completed by J.T. Sauer & Associates, LLC. At the May 11 board meeting, Jim Sauer showed the board what a renovation might look like.

So far, the only bid that’s come to do the work is for $1.4 million, far too much according to the board members. So, the plan is to spend the next several days soliciting more and less expensive bids.

“We’re going to re-bid,” board president Allison Mathis said. “We hope the bids come in lower.”

But what if they don’t?

“It’s hard to answer that question theoretically. I’m really optimistic the bids will come in lower so we can proceed. The board has indicated a commitment.”

In other news from the meeting, school board member Dee Spade was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation by Mathis for her eight years of service.