Cheney board approves Windsor construction contract

At its April 18 meeting, the Cheney School District’s board of directors unanimously approved awarding a contract for construction work at Windsor Elementary School to Spokane general contractor T.W. Clark Construction.

The award is the second given as part of the district’s $52 million capital facilities bond passed in February 2017, with the other award going for similar work at Betz Elementary School in Cheney.

Clark’s bid of $5.576 million was the lowest of five bidders, but higher than the almost $5.3 million maximum allowable construction cost agreed upon by the board, its architect ALSC and construction manager OAC. Clark’s bid also included $254,000 in selected alternatives.

State law allows the district to award the contract “at base bid and selected alternates” to the contractor and then enter into value engineering to bring the price to within or below budget.

Also at the April 18 meeting, the board unanimously approved an agreement with the city of Cheney regarding a special police officer commission for the district’s director of security position.

Cheney’s City Council approved two ordinances amending the city’s municipal code to create the commission and provide it authority recognized by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, and at its April 10 meeting a resolution spelling out how the agreement operates and the responsibilities and jurisdictions of the various parties involved.

Superintendent Rob Roettger said the agreement applies to current director of security Kelly Hembach, who served as the district’s school resource officer while he was a member of the Cheney Police Department. Hembach retired in December 2017, and was hired into the new director position, and with the commission can now operate with the same authority as the new SRO.

Roettger said the agreement came before the board without review and comment from the district’s attorney, who was given the contract last week.

“I’ve not heard back,” Roettger said. “If we do and he has concerns, there is a modification clause (in the document) to make changes.”

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].