ActivePaper Archive NMJC to undertake most expensive project - Hobbs News Sun, 10/26/2019

NMJC to undertake most expensive project

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Hobbs High School celebrated fall athletes at a Friday morning pep rally. Students also managed to sneak in some good-natured jabs at coaches such as this parody of boy’s soccer coach Jose Mares.

A unanimous vote by New Mexico Junior College board Thursday set in motion a plan to undertake a renovation of the Caster Activities Center estimated to cost $12.1 million, the most expensive renovation project ever to be undertaken by the college.

The board voted to hire a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) for the project. According to a letter sent to board members before the meeting, “This process was also used for the Allied Health Building project. CMAR provides time for the College, the architects and the construction company to all have input into the design of the project before construction products are produced. Due to the nature and extent of the project, NMJC officials believe it is imperative that as many experts as possible review the design, materials and systems renovation.”

The renovation includes a complete redesign and construction of the building’s including - ketball court. This project affects the coaches offices, athletic department office, locker rooms and the training office.

The center’s racquetball courts will be taken out and replaced with usable space.

"The plan is to start the project in early March right after the end of the upcoming basketball season,” said NMJC President Kelvin Sharp on Friday. “The project will probably be about a year long and done in two phases.”

The project’s first phase will bring new locker rooms and coaches offices for track and field, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball on the east side of the center.

The second phase calls for visiting locker rooms and training offices on the west side of the center.

Bradbury Stamm Construction won the bid for the position as CMAR, based on points received for its proposal. Points were awarded by a committee that not only examined bidders’ written proposals, but also conducted interviews with company personnel. Of the three bidders, HB Construction, Jaynes Construction, and Bradbury, the latter received 82.91 points, HB received 82.33 points and Jaynes received 51.53 points.

The NMJC board approved paying Bradbury Stamm $1,110,000 for its services.

After the meeting, NMJC vice president for finance Dan Hardin said he believes having a CMAR is essential for a big project.

“After they go over everything, they will give us a maximum price. If the project exceeds that, the construction company will have to pick up the excess,” Hardin said.

Hardin said he hopes to come back to the board in December with a plan and more detailed estimated cost of the project for the board’s consideration.

Board members also approved a request from NMJC chief purchasing officer Joe-Mike Gomez to approve transferring $435,000 from reserves to the Law Academy building fund to cover the cost of an “Academy/Bus Barn building to be located between Bob Moran and the Maintenance Building.”

The proposed building will provide 5,700 square feet for Law Academy physical training and 2,800 feet for bus storage. The physical training facility will be fully air-conditioned and heated, but not the bus storage unit, Gomez said.

Pluma Construction Systems won the bid for the proposed building at $644,549.24.

The board also approved bids for electrical, carpentry, concrete and painting services. Gomez explained that the bids were for services by the hour because each is potentially an ongoing need.

“There may be electrical work or some other work that we need every week, and then we may not need work for a while. So, we contract with companies by the hour,” Gomez said.

Each of the bids went to DePorto Construction, the only company that entered a bid. It bid $150 an hour for electrical services, $60 an hour for carpentry, $60 an hour for concrete, and $48 an hour for painting.

Gomez asked and received the board’s permission to make arrangements to offer at public auction NMJC surplus property which he described as filling the college warehouse to overflowing. The 11-page-list of property includes fixtures such as desks. It also includes computers and other smaller items.

At the present time, the auction is planned for Dec. 7, but the date is subject to change.