The Fieldcrest Board of Education selected Cordogan Clark & Associates Inc of Aurora to be the construction manager on the proposed construction of a middle school in Wenona and a high school in Minonk. The board listened to a presentation from Cordogan Clark and also from Midwest Construction Professionals (MPC) from Morton, IL before voting on their selection.
Representatives from Cordogan Clark emphasized their 65 years of experience in managing school construction projects and a 85% repeat customer record. They cited some of their latest projects which included a $14 million school for 600 students at Clinton, IL and a $11 million project at East Aurora High School that included a new gymnasium. They indicated they would have monthly updates with the board that would include videos and reports showing where money was spent that month. They also guaranteed that the project will come in on budget and on time.
Cordogan Clark employee, Rick Krischel who is a Wenona native, would be the on-site representative for the project. The president of Cordogan Clark was at the meeting and he said there would be no pre-construction charge before the referendum. This means if the referendum does not pass there would be no charge, else the fee would be 0.75% of the total project cost. Cordogan Clark representatives said they would work to help get the referendum passed while working with the building committee. They would also work with the architects at the Farnsworth Group.
The second presentation was by Midwest Construction Professionals (MCP) of Morton, Il who have been in business since 2012 and have completed numerous projects in the local area. Among the schools they mentioned in which they were the construction manager was a $115 million project at Tr-Valley high school plus projects at these other schools, Bureau Valley, Unit 4 in Champaign, East Peoria high school, Midland Elementary, Princeton high school, Dunlap high school and Knoxville high school.
MCP representatives said all of their projects have come in on schedule except for Princeton high school which was slightly over budget. They said their fee would be 3% of the construction plus an $85 hourly rate for an onsite superintendent, but there would be no fee if the referendum does not pass.
Both firms indicated they are able to have the project design ready by the end of July so as to allow the project be put on the November ballot as a referendum.
After the presentations the board debated which firm to select as the construction manager for the school building project. All board members indicated that both firms were impressive and would be qualified to head the project.
Board members Charles Lohr and Scott Hillenburg indicated having a Wenona native as the construction representative for Cordogan Clark is a big plus while board members Joe Kirkpatrick and Elizabeth Palm indicated the number of local projects that MCP had weighed in their favor. In the end, the board voted to select Cordogan Clark as the construction manager with Mr. Kirkpatrick and Ms. Palm voting no.
In the final action of the night, the board approved a bid of $1,988,000 by CORE Construction for the Life-Safety projects at Fieldcrest Secondary in Toluca and Fieldcrest Primary in Minonk. Board members Charles Lohr and Mykin Bernardi voted no citing their opposition to having only 1 bid submitted. Mr. Lohr wanted to have a second bid in order to get a lower bid.