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AUBURN, Mass. – After getting too-high bids in August for the Auburn High School press box project, the school district has decided that Bay Path High School students, after all, will build the box at a much lower price.
The school district had accepted a $138,000 bid from Quality Contracting Inc. in August which was significantly higher than the budgeted $55,000. While looking for ways to fund the project, Superintendent of Schools Maryellen Brunelle and the town's Cable Committee decided that students from the vocational school should build the press box, bringing the project in on- or even under-budget.
“I’m very happy to report that Bay Path is back on for this project and has this as their number one priority,” Brunelle said. “We’re excited for the collaboration with Bay Path and look forward to finally putting a shovel in the ground.”
The press box was initially supposed to be built by Bay Path last fall before that plan fell through. Then, the Cable Committee opened the bidding to contractors.
No bids were received in June, the sole bid in July was rejected, and all four August bids were over budget. Joe Hamel, a Cable Committee member, said the cost of those bids was “not going to work very well.”
“The price per square foot was way too high,” Hamel said. “When this is all said and done, it will be all good with the budget.”
Plans call for an 8-by-24-foot press box with wings on either side for camera platforms, in addition to a cupola and a wheelchair lift. The local cable company will be able to use the box to broadcast live football games in the future.
“It will be a three- or four-camera shoot, very professional quality,” Hamel said.
Hamel predicts that the press box will be done by December, which is too late for any 2012 football games, but will be ready for spring sports and many football games in the future.
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