On the Agenda: Ames School Board Interviews Construction Managers

The Ames Community School Board will begin interviewing construction management firms Monday for its elementary building project --- a building process that has brought the district controversy in the past.

The district decided earlier this year to use a construction manager rather than use a single general contractor to build the district's three new schools and renovation of two others.

The board voted to use the process on the Miller Avenue school construction project first and possibly more.

Bossardt Construction, of Minneapolis, Construction Services, Inc., of Des Moines; Midwest Construction Consultants, of Houghton, Stahl Construction, of Des Moines, and Taylor Ohde Kitchell also of Des Moines will be interviewed Monday evening.

The interviews are open to the public but no public comment will be allowed. Since the interviews will be held at the Education Services Center the meeting will not be video taped or broadcast on Cable Channel 7.

In 2003, the school board approved hiring Cost, Planning & Management International or CPMI as the construction manager to oversea construction of the current middle school, high school renovations and building projects paid for with physical plant equipment levy funds.

The company bid $279,000 to coordinate middle school construction $153,000 to oversee high school renovations and $67,280 a year for PPEL projects. The board and the manager later disagreed over payments that CPMI might have billed outside the scope of its contracts and a legal battle ensued. A state audit of the payments was unable to determine whether the payments exceeded contract duties and the district reluctantly agreed to pay an out of court settlement to CPMI at the end of 2008, according to board minutes.