Work is nearly complete on nearly $10 million worth of renovations and improvements from the 2016 bond issue for the Columbia School District.
Superintendent Jason Harris updated the District’s Board of Trustees during a Tuesday night meeting that followed a public tour of the work being done to the Crystelle Ford Auditorium and the Herrington Band Hall.
“As you could see from the tour, the auditorium is slowly coming together,” he said. “In our meeting today, we found out that the seating should be completed this week; it’s all there. The wheelchair lift, which is backstage, is installed. They will be finishing out the trim on Friday and the stage front this weekend, which includes electrical panels. They will probably have a good portion of the auditorium itself finished. They will be ready to come in and start to finalize things soon. I know it looks like there is still a lot left, but in reality, once you get the seats in and then they come in and do the carpet, it will be close. It’s kind of like building a house and once you get to the end, you have a lot of little things to finish up.”
Hallways will also be painted, and Harris also discussed the doors to the auditorium and in the band hall area.
“The planning is to prep for everything and then by Saturday of next week they would finish with the painting of the corridor,” he said. “All of the doors going into the auditorium will be changed. When we paint, it will become more uniform and it will change the outline and the trim. There is actually a lot of prep work that has to be done. Before our next Board meeting, the auditorium should be functional. They’ve got a few things to do, but not much left to do.”
Harris also addressed projects at the other schools.
“There are a few things left to do at the elementary school kitchen,” he said. “They just need to finish it out. There are several punch list items. At the middle school, we’re getting close to having the new intercom system in and once it’s there we will be able to move into the new office. A good portion of the wire had been run and the speakers are in.”
The Board also discussed outstanding bills and items owed to the contractor and the amount of bond money left for change orders.
“One of the issues that we have is on the auditorium roof,” Harris said. “This will be something we hope to address as we finish off the bond issue money. We have not signed off on everything. We have not closed the project out. I want to get things behind us once we finish the auditorium up. The problems that have arisen are on the old roof on top of the auditorium. We will have to address this moving forward.”
The Board then discussed several change orders.
“We have been pretty good stewards of our money,” Harris said. “So far, as of today, we have roughly spent $92,000 in change orders with a good portion of that being the canopy at the primary school, which was $32,000. It also includes $18,000 at Jefferson Middle School to really secure the back wall with the lobby. Most of the other things have been needed, nothing really fancy. Again, they were things that really needed to go along with the contract.”
The Board also learned that the long-awaited window project at Columbia High School should be completed over the District’s Christmas break. The windows are warranty replacements from a previous project.
“The windows are set to be here on Dec. 18,” Harris. “We will be working to get those scheduled. Maybe we will get the projects done and the windows done at the same time.”
The Board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 11 at the Board offices on Wildcat Way.
Pictured Above: Lead Teacher Bruce Ratcliff and Catherine Wilson look over renovations Tuesday that are nearly completed in the Crystelle Ford Auditorium at Columbia High School. | Photo by Mark Rogers
