The Brainerd School Board Monday night is expected to take a big step toward implementing the school district's comprehensive long-range facilities plan.
At its December monthly meeting, the board decided to seek quotes and statements of qualifications for a project management firm to execute the district's plan. The deadline for submitting quotes was Jan. 27.
The agenda for Monday night's meeting indicates the board will approve a resolution to execute a contract with Foster, Jacobs & Johnson Inc., for facilities program management services. The estimated costs of the services outlined in the FJJ proposal is $125,000.
At a November meeting, Superintendent Laine Larson proposed a six-phase process for how to proceed with the plan. The request for quotes asked firms how they would implement the six phases, which are:
- Comprehensive district communications planning,
- Stakeholder engagement: internal and external listening sessions,
- Potential surveys and assessments,
- Develop project scope options and alternatives,
- Bond referendum election process,
- Comprehensive construction management services.
According to the FJJ proposal, the company was founded in 1922 in Duluth and has completed 8,000 projects in its history. The company would include sub-consultants Widseth Smith Nolting and Kraus-Anderson Construction for the consulting process. All three companies have worked on numerous projects in school districts throughout Minnesota. Most notably, WSN and Kraus-Anderson worked on the Forestview Middle School construction project. At an October meeting, Larson mentioned previous experience working with FJJ on a construction project.
The proposal from FJJ extensively outlines how the company would implement the six-phase process proposed by Larson. Visit
www.bit.ly/2kdbbne
to see the FJJ proposal. An initial timeline proposed by FJJ shows the scope of work taking place from February through August.
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The proposal from FJJ was the only proposal the district received, said Steve Lund, director of business services. The public notice was published in the Brainerd Dispatch and the Star Tribune and Lund also sent the notice directly to 12 qualified, Minnesota-based firms.
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Meeting details
- What: Brainerd School Board monthly meeting
- When: 6 p.m. Monday
- Where: Washington Educational Services Building, 804 Oak St.
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During the submission period, about four to six companies contacted Lund about the proposal, he said. Some companies said they were working on finding consulting partners for the project, he said, while others said they liked the project, but couldn't fit it into their schedules.
"I think that shows facilities are getting more attention across the state," Lund said.
An interview committee of about 13-14 people met with representatives from FJJ about their proposal, Lund said. Representatives explained their vision for the project and also fielded questions from the committee members, he said. The interview was recorded and will be posted to the district's website, he said, so people can see how the vetting process went.
Background
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The district started the long-range facilities planning process in July of 2015. Those past two years included compiling and reviewing a lot of data on the district's facilities, demographics, enrollment trends and more. The process included data evaluation, site visits to other schools, reviewing enrollment data, reviewing the conditions of the district's facilities and looking at the costs and financial capacity of the district. The overall cost of all the maintenance, construction, furniture and technology recommendations in the plan totals about $207 million.
The district hired a consultant, Cuningham Group, to guide the district through the comprehensive long-range facilities planning process. Lund previously said the contract with Cuningham Group for this service totaled approximately $165,000. This includes all rough cost estimates and data analysis included in the plan.
The recommendations in the approved plan include a combination of right-sizing, renewal, reinvestment, repurposing and replacement. Those recommendations are:
- Brainerd High School: renew and reinvest,
- Forestview Middle School: maintain,
- Baxter Elementary School: replace with a new school; repurpose for programs from Lincoln Education Center and Brainerd Learning Center,
- Garfield Elementary School: right-size and renew,
- Harrison Elementary School: replace with a new school,
- Lowell Elementary School: right-size and renew,
- Nisswa Elementary School: right-size and renew,
- Riverside Elementary School: right-size and renew,
- Brainerd Learning Center: reinvest for early learning,
- Lincoln Education Center: vacate, relocating programs to current Baxter Elementary School,
- Washington Educational Services Building: renew.
There are 12 facilities in the district, comprising 1.2 million square feet and 289 acres of land. The district's boundaries encompass 516 square miles. The oldest building in the district, Washington Educational Services Building, was built in 1929. The newest building, Forestview Middle School, was built in 2004. The average age of the district's buildings is 44 years old.
Visit
www.bit.ly/2fsCJWZ
to view a final draft of the comprehensive long-range facilities plan.
