MONROE — The School District of Monroe Board of Education confirmed six more bids for the new high school building project during its meeting June 10 at the Bauer Education Center. 

In the bid process, the board approved:

●  Precision Drive and Control (PDC) of Monroe and NEXT Electric of Waukesha as a partnership for the electrical contract at $806,000 total — $250,000 under budget. PDC will cover the exterior electrical, and Next Electric the interior electrical.

●  CG Schmidt for the structural concrete at $300,000 under budget.

●  Wells Concrete in Waukesha for the precast concrete at $401,228 under budget.

●  JP Cullen — the lowest of three bids — for the structural masonry at $114,963 over budget.

●  Weld Corp. in DeForest for steel fabrication at $867,717 under budget.

●  Capitol Steel Erectors of Blue Mounds for structural steel installation at $596,425 under budget.

The six approved bids combined came in at $2.1 million under budget.

In all, about 71% of all bids have now been collected or approved. Bids for the athletic fields and their exterior buildings are in and being vetted, which is included in the 71% number. The project remains right at budget, Tony Buss of CG Schmidt said. The remaining 29% yet to be bid on is for finishings like windows, roofing, flooring and furnishings. 

However, the initial Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) budget outlook has now been pushed back to late August or September, months later than previously expected, because of potential changes the City of Monroe might be making regarding landscaping code.

“If those did change, that would reduce some of the construction costs,” Buss said. “At this point in time, it’s been suggested to us to just sit tight on the landscaping package and bid that out a month later. … That timeframe is a little rough, and that might push our GMP further into or after September.”

Ryan Burton of Huffman Keel, the owner’s rep in the project, said that he hopes the landscaping is the last variable. 

“If it’s as favorable as we are hoping it might be, it’s going to be a considerable savings,” Burton said. “That’s the goal: to milk every penny we can out of this process and get it as low as we possibly can. I think the city is on board with what we presented to them ... and they are kind enough to be revisiting it.”

District superintendent Rodney Figueroa said that, ultimately, it is the decision of the common council. 

Figueroa also said that construction on the project has begun to ramp up, despite some recent wet weather. Top soil is being dug at the site, which is located on 70 acres along 31st Avenue on the far east side of Monroe. With the structure bids approved, further development will ramp up even more. Figueroa expected that fencing would go up around the entire site by this weekend. Liability to the district is high, and the risk of non-approved persons touring the site — whether while work is being done or on the weekend — is simply too high.

“It looks really tempting for somebody with a nice four-wheel drive truck to go in off of the breaker and check it out,” Figueroa said.  

The plan remains for the exterior structure of the building to go up during the summer and fall months, which would then allow for interior work to be done during the winter. Then, in the summer of 2026, construction of the athletic fields would be underway. The campus is projected to be completed during the winter or spring of the 2025-26 school year, with the building opening for classes in the fall of 2026.

Figueroa also said that negotiations remain ongoing regarding a possible access to the north of the property, instead of a mile-long winding road from County KK. The street access would be built with dollars from the district and Bader-Spidahl LLC (B&S), owners of the 47 acres directly north of the property. That land was annexed into the city in May as a potential site for residential development. Figueroa said the street would be built to city specs.

He also said the location of the lift station will be on the northeast side of the campus, as it would be used by the district and B&S’s two large properties (47 and 61 acres) along Wis. 11/81 north of the MHS campus site.

Work on the Abraham Lincoln Elementary project began right away last week after school ended. Abraham Lincoln staff is now sharing space at Parkside during the summer while work is done to upgrade HVAC, lighting and other improvements in the building.

A public session for decisions on legacy items to potentially keep, reuse or honor from the current high school will likely be held in July or August after the final bids are approved and construction is fully underway.

To watch the full school board meeting, as well as archived meetings and student activities from the district, go to https://www.youtube.com/@monroeschoolswi.