Morris Community High School moving forward with addition after voters approve $67 million in bonds

Morris Community High School is moving forward with plans for an addition after voters said “yes” to a $67 million referendum that allows the district to sell bonds to build a brand new, two-story addition.

Superintendent Craig Ortiz said the next step is to sell the $67 million in bonds, which he said will be strategically broken up to try and capture better interest rates.

Elizabeth Shields, the district’s Chief Business Officer, said she and Ortiz have been getting many phone calls and emails asking about the method they’re going with.

“Are we using a general contractor, or are we using a construction manager?” Shields said. “The answer is, we don’t know officially yet.”

She said when a general contractor, the entire package for the project goes out to bid and then it’s up to the general contractors to get the subcontractors in and coordinate everything. Then, they make money based on their profit margin.

Construction managers, Shields said, are different, and there are different types and levels of construction managers.

“There is a fee involved that you pay directly to them, and that makes them more interested in your area,” Shields said. “They then bid out each section as a group in order to get some economies of scale and provide that bid process at different levels. They’re getting paid by your fee that you’re giving them, not by a profit margin.”

Shields said typically, the larger the project, the more likely it is to have a construction manager involved.

Shields said the decision on which direction to go will be made by a committee, and the school will be place a request for qualifications soon.

The project will see the unattached buildings demolished, with the new building going toward changing the school’s current L-shape into a square. There will also be a courtyard in the center.

It also gets the cafeteria out of the basement, adds more classrooms, and provides enough funding to renovate older parts of the school, replace HVAC systems, and allow the district to upgrade the electrical service.