Westonka school board chooses architects
The Westonka School Board on April 9 approved Wold Architects and Engineers as the firm to carry out work architectural on the three-year renovation project for the four schools in the district.
The selection was based on a recommendation from the facilities committee, which selected Wold out of a pool of four firms from seven total requests for proposals for the project.
The facilities committee held interviews at a March 20 open meeting to select finalists from the four firms. At this meeting, the committee determined to focus on two firms - Wold and ATS&R.
According to a Westonka school board document, an estimation by Kraus Anderson between the two firms showed that Wold could cost slightly more for the district. ATS&R was estimated to cost between $1,341,270.54 and $1,437,591.72, compared to Wold's estimate of $1,458,865.56.
Board members expressed their support for Wold during the board meeting, speaking before they voted 6-0 - with David Bond abstaining - to hire the firm.
Board Member Keith Foerster said that there was many positives that made Wold stick out from the rest.
"We felt there were measurable advantages working with Wold," "One of the key things that stuck in the facility committee's mind was building information modeling."
The information modeling is a model view of construction or remodeling changes made during the planning stage.
"This is something that's not typically always offered in renovation type work, but this was part of the package that Wold provided to us," said Forester.
Forester also said he also liked Wold's cost estimating service, engineering services and no additional fees for alternatives.
Bond, who abstained from voting because he worked with Wold for seven years, said that he felt the process was complete enough to hire Wold.
"I could cast a good vote on this one. I witnessed a great process, I know it was complete, and it addressed all the right questions necessary to hire this firm for Westonka," he said. "I think we're on the right track here."
Wold presented a summary before the vote of what they told the facilities committee in the interview process. Wold representatives Paul Aplikowski and Kevin Marshall were present at the meeting.
"We're a significant player in the K12 market in Minnesota," said Aplikowski. "It's about 70 percent of what we do."
According to the school board resolution, the maximum amount of Wold's contract will be $1,459,000. The price will "be based on 5.5 percent of the determined construction costs plus reimbursables."
The renovation project will begin this summer.
