Renovation of an educational facility in Ottumwa, Iowa. Completed plans call for the renovation of a educational facility.

https://www.ottumwacourier.com/news/local_news/school-district-to-let-bids-for-athletic-gym-next-month/article_4071f2c4-4692-11ee-b2f8-8fc00f975edc.html Aug 29, 2023 OTTUMWA -- The Ottumwa Community School District is expected to let out bids for the competition gym project next month, but the board of education received a fly-through presentation of the planned facility during Monday's meeting. Little has changed since the district announced its intentions to move forward on approximately $30 million in improvements in May, with the athletic gym adjacent to the high school one of the centerpieces of the renovations. The competition gym will move high school athletic events to the high school for the first time in almost 70 years, which will end the run of Evans Middle School hosting those events. The competition gym will be connected by a walkway over East Second Street to the second floor of the high school. "This is a really exciting project for us at the high school and again, it's kind of that contiuation of remodeling the high school," superintendent Mike McGrory said. "A lot of hard work has gone in to make sure that we have the things that are needed in this facility." Plenty of natural light will seep into the facility and the walkway, which resembles a skywalk in downtown Des Moines. The facility will have two gyms, with total seating of just short of 1,500, which is about 300 more than the current seating capacity at Evans. However, OHS principal Shelley Bramschreiber sees the facility as more than just a sport facility, especially for events that require plenty of seating. "It's an awesome competition gym and it's also going to have a significant impact on our daily physical education courses," she said. "Also, by opening up that entire gym space, we will have room to able to do significant programs for our entire student body. "Currently, if we have a guest speaker, we have to run two 45-minute assemblies because we can't get all of our student body in the auditorium. This will remedy that, and we're looking forward to using it in our daily programming at OHS." The facility will have an apparel store just inside the entrance, and essentially a concourse that will be open during events so fans can watch activity on both courts. There will be baseline seating as well, something not available at Evans and one of the reasons the capacity will be larger. The courts will be separated by a bi-fold door, which will help muffle sound coming from either court. The cost of the gym is about $10.5 million. Human resources director David Harper said the district will reappear before the board at its Sept. 11 meeting. Upon approval, bids for the project will go out the following day, with construction set to start in the spring of 2024. "I also want to remind our community that we're really committed to wrestling as well, and so as this project is going on, we will start the project of remodeling for wrestling at the high school," McGrory said. "This will really perpetuate our ability to have varsity sports at the high school, which will be great. "But this is also where it starts to become that campus feel. You really feel like it's a high school campus." The school district also will be constructing eight tennis courts behind the high school on Center Avenue, bringing another high school sport to the vicinity. In other business: -- Andrea Songer-Dudley, a bus driver in the school district, has been pleased with how traffic has been directed at the south side elementaries, and hoped the board would take a look at adding more of it toward Shaul Avenue. However, she said there have been problems with the drive cams installed on the buses that are able to point out where stop signs are. The district contracts its busing service through Durham School Services. "Those cams know where they're located, and so when we drive past them and don't stop, it will give us a safety violation, so if the board and Durham could communicate in some some way that won't cause us a violation," she said. "We can only get so many of those before we're in big trouble." She also had concerns about which side of a vehicle parents are getting their kids out of out of, particularly those with car seats. "Since we're sharing our traffic space with the general public in some areas, it might be very convenient to have your car seat on the driver's side, and we understand that," she said. "However, they're opening their car doors up into traffic, and we're concerned that we're going to be exposed to a lot of risks and endangering children's and parents' lives." Songer-Dudley also hoped the district could move up the departure time at Liberty Elementary to 3:10 p.m., instead of the scheduled 3:21, because "it seems we're going to be able to do that on a regular basis, and it would save about a half hour on my route." Songer-Dudley spoken on a topic that wasn't on the agenda, so no organized discussion took place, but board president Morgan Brown wondered if the district has control over the cameras on the buses. "To a certain degree we do. Our contract is up after the end of this year, so we can always request additional things in the bidding process," McGrory said. "We'll take a look at it for sure," Brown said to Songer-Dudley. -- Greater Ottumwa Partners In Progress Executive Director Marc Roe presented the school district with a $10,000 check to assist the district in the purchase of information technology equipment, culinary arts and welding equipment, and certification costs for all as GOPIP looks to build a strong local workforce. ___________________________________________________________ High School Athletics Complex project. Bid security in the form of a bid bond, certified check or cash in an amount equal to 5 percent of the base bid amount shall be submitted with the bid. Should a bid bond be submitted, the bid bond shall be payable to the Board of Education - Ottumwa Community School District. The Board of Education reserves the right to reject any or all bids or parts thereof, or waive any irregularities or informalities, and to make the award in the best interest of the District. Submit all questions regarding the Bidding Documents to Legat Architects via email to Jeff Sandberg at jsandberg@legat.com.