Carlisle School Board flushes bathroom bids | Carlisle

Carlisle Area School Board Thursday officially rejected bids the district received for the renovation of a single set of restrooms in the McGowan building of Carlisle High School.

Board members voted 7-0 to turn down bids that combined exceeded the project budget by $82,500. Fred Baldwin and Linda Manning were absent.

On Feb. 16, board members approved a capital reserve budget for 2017-18 that includes $125,000 for the renovation of a single set of boys and girls restrooms in the building.

Specifications were developed and released for the project, but only one bid was received for three of the four contracts. District administrators recommended the board reject the bids because the total exceeded the project budget and because there was a lack of multiple bids.

Last week the board property committee reviewed a two-year plan where half the restrooms in the McGowan building would be renovated next summer followed by the other half the summer of 2019.

McGowan has six sets of two restrooms each — one for males, one for females. The fixtures, plumbing and tilework are original to the 1955 building.

By grouping three sets of restrooms into each of the two phases, the hope is the project will draw a more competitive pool of bids and save money, committee chairman Brian Guillaume said.