ROCK SPRINGS – The Buildings and Grounds Department of Sweetwater County School District No. 1 are always on the run. While several projects are starting to come to an end, others are just getting underway.

Building and Grounds Director Dan Selleroli gave an update on several projects going on around the district. The first update was on playground equipment at Washington. All of the playground equipment has been installed with the exception of one piece. Selleroli said there was a misunderstanding between the company providing the equipment and the district.

There was a change made to the original plans. Selleroli said the company provided a piece of equipment which was on the original plans but was cut when the plans changed. The company has agreed to give the District a refund on the one piece of equipment which Selleroli said is approximately $200,000. He said the money credited will be used for the playgrounds at Overland and Westridge.

Stagecoach Elementary

Next up was Stagecoach Elementary. At the school board meeting in January, Selleroli voiced concerns the project was falling behind. On Monday, Selleroli said Hughes has hired a scaffold company to stay ahead of the masons.

“This should help get the project back on track,” Selleroli said.

Along with the hiring of the scaffold company, Hughes also presented the district with a new schedule which shows how they intend to get the project back on schedule.

A partial bid for the furniture, fixtures and equipment at Stagecoach was recently closed and examined by staff. On Monday, the board unanimously approved to award the first partial bid to School Specialty Inc. in the amount of $390,600. There should be two more partial bids decided on in the near future for the remaining furniture and fixtures needed for the school.

Black Butte High School

Black Butte is busy with contractors trying to make their end of month due date. Selleroli said furniture, fixtures, and equipment arrived while carpet and tile has been laid. He explained crews are moving fast to make the February deadline.

RSHS Pool

For several months the RSHS Pool has been a topic of interest. Selleroli said they should finish the plans this month and be ready to bid the project in March.

The upgrades at the pool include liner and new gutter system to meet the new health code standards, a new redesigned chlorination system, a redesign of the fill station, heating system to be interconnected to a new area boiler and new pumps.

There is a second phase of the project which will upgrade the locker rooms.

Since first starting the discussion on the pool, the topic of widening the pool continues to be brought up. As he has for the past two months, Selleroli continued to stress to the board the extreme challenges they would face to widen the pool.He once again explained widening the pool by two lanes carries a high price tag and also posses extreme challenges with the building. He said there is not enough room to widen the pool by two lanes and if they attempted it they would literally have to take out a wall to make it happen.

At the last meeting, Selleroli said he could provide the costs of widening the pool and Board member Neil Kourbelas asked him if he had the costs.

Selleroli said to widen the pool by two lanes would cost $400 a square foot. The area is between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet. Selleroli stressed this is just for the structure. This did not include the costs of removing the wall, redoing the roof and upgrades to the system and boilers which would be needed if they widened the existing pool.

Farson-Eden

As for the new Farson-Eden School, all parties involved did meet in Cheyenne on Jan. 20 to discuss the issue of the fire suppression system which has stalled the progress on the project.

Officials in the Sweetwater County Building and Engineering Department are requiring a fire suppression system which strictly follows state fire codes. Whether it is a building, a town or in this case a school, the county has historically made sure state fire codes have been strictly followed. Several years ago, the Sweetwater County Commissioners put a moratorium on development in Reliance until state fire codes and regulations could be met.

With this specific project, the county has stood its ground even more because the project is a school with the safety of many young lives involved.

The school district believes the fire suppression system requirements are more than what is needed for this project. At the last school board meeting, a similar project in another school district was brought up in which the state agreed the fire suppression system was bigger than what was needed.

The school district has filed an appeal with the state about the suppression system. The two sides will now wait for 30 days from the date of the Jan. 20 meeting. Once the 30-day period has elapsed, all parties will again make their way to Cheyenne for another meeting unless a compromise is agreed upon before the 30-day period is up.