MEXICO – The Region 9 school board opened bids this week for the upcoming renovation and expansion project at the vocational school, and were surprised that all eight came in under estimate.

The lowest, Bowman Brothers Inc. of Newport, submitted a bid of $3,395,000, a figure that would allow the construction of three additional classrooms the board had wanted to build.

“The bids were much kinder that we had expected,” board member Craig Zurhorst said.

Board Chairman Norman Clanton said original plans had included the extra classrooms, which would provide greater flexibility for the vocational program, but eliminated them when it was learned that cost estimates would be higher than hoped.

The entire project is expected to cost about $4.9 million. Another $1.5 million covers such things as architectural and engineering fees, a contingency fund, legal and insurance fees, vocational program equipment, and a variety of other, smaller items that are associated with a building project, said engineer Jim Reuter of the Bethel firm of Smith Reuter Lull.

The contract for the work will likely be awarded at a special board meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday in the school’s conference room.

Reuter is reviewing the bid package to make sure it meets all specifications.

Clanton was particularly pleased that the eight bid amounts were so close together, varying by less than 3 percent.

“That tells us those bids were closely scrubbed down by contractors; it gives us confidence in the quality of the bids,” he said.

A groundbreaking is expected to take place sometime in early autumn, with a completion date about a year later. The addition will allow two new programs at the vocational school – early childhood development and automotive technology.