Advance RIV Board of Education awards $2 million FEMA Safe Room contract

Saturday, October 31, 2015
MADELINEDEJOURNETTadvancensc@sbcglobal.net Advance School board treasurer Ronnie Martin speaks in support of the FEMA Safe Room proposal at a "Keep Advance Safe" informational meeting, before the April 7, 2014 bond issue.

The Advance RIV board of Education met in special session on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015 to take action on four bids for the proposed FEMA Safe Room to be constructed on the campus this year.

The bid was awarded to Sides Construction of Jackson, who had the low base bid of $2,179,342. In addition, Sides had the low bids for 5 alternate (additional) bids for 2 classrooms, a paved parking area for the Safe Room, and 2 alternates for waste water drainage.

The bid opening was conducted on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015, with bids from Brockmiller Construction, Keifner Brothers Construction, Sides Construction, and Zoellner Construction. All bids were studied by school officials, architects, and engineers, before the final decision was made.

"They (Sides) are a very well known and reputable company with extensive experience in FEMA Safe Room and school construction," Seiler said. "We are exceedingly fortunate to have them as the general contractor for this project. Over the next few days, a construction contract will be drawn up and signed, which gives Sides Construction the permission to proceed with the project. I anticipate that they will be on site very soon to begin work. If mother nature is reasonably cooperative, I also anticipate the FEMA Safe Room project being completed in late summer of 2016."

Earlier this year, the Advance RIV District received a nearly $1 million FEMA grant (with a $441,934 match from the district) to build a basic storm shelter, which would have been sufficient to house a student population of 430, along with a limited number of local residents; however, the school district approached the public with a request for a $1.9 million bond issue to expand the shelter to include room for the entire community of 1,300. The issue passed by a margin of 61 percent to 39 percent.

Much of the credit for the successful bond issue can be attributed to a strong community effort, spearheaded under the title, "Keep Advance Safe." Many meetings were held to educate the voters about the proposal.

Work will now begin to complete this major improvement to the Advance District.

On Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, there will be another bid meeting in the superintendent's office to consider the bids for the custom-made bleachers for the Safe Room gym.

"The Advance Board of Education is very excited to move into the construction phase of this much needed project, as they know it will benefit not only our kids and school, but the entire Advance community," Seiler said.

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