By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
After receiving a request for qualification from eight different firms, the Buckeye Central Board of Education trimmed the list of potential builders of the school’s planned auxiliary gymnasium down to four Monday night.
After looking over the RFQ information of each company for the past week, the Buckeye Central Board of Education took the list of companies, and discussed numerous advantages of using each one. After one failed motion, the Buckeye Central Board of Education approved Adena Corporation, Studer & Obringer, Inc., Janotta & Herner Construction, and J & F Construction, Inc. as the final four potential builders of the auxiliary gymnasium with a 3-0 vote. Board President Missy McDougal and Board member Jerome Heydinger abstained from the vote.
The motion that failed to gain a second motion for vote would have utilized the services of the company Tealamon Construction instead of J & F Construction. It was shot down without a second motion on the floor.
Buckeye Central Superintendent Mark Robinson told board members that reviewing all eight firms was a difficult task in and of itself.
“It’s hard because all of the companies are qualified,” Robinson explained to the board. “I don’t want to say one is more qualified than the other, because they are all qualified.”
With the four companies that the school wishes to possibly do business with, the Buckeye Central board discussed what to do prior to issuing a request for proposal (RFP) from the companies. Robinson explained what next steps the school will take in the process of selecting a company.
“I need to check into the next steps, but what we believe is going to happen is we will meet with those firms, sharing our criteria documents with them; and then based upon our criteria documents and any creativity that they bring to the table. In the future, (we will) have four proposals from those four firms as to what we need to do for our auxiliary gymnasium,” Robinson said.
While discussing what to do next during the meeting, Treasurer Nancy Ackerman gave insight to how the school approached selecting a company when constructing the school.
“When doing the new school, we asked them the same questions, listened to their presentations, and went with what felt most comfortable,” Ackerman said. “We would get a feel of what each company can do during their proposal.”
Prior to adjourning Robinson explained that he would start contacting people and relay the information and feedback from his discussions to the board.
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