A project to reroof the gymnasium and C building at Snowflake Junior High School using School Facilities Board funding began March 12, but the need for more work was soon discovered.
The plan was to do much of the work during spring break, but “as the old roof was being demolished, it was discovered that the electric power to the light fixtures and other items had been run through conduits on top of the roof deck and then foamed over with roofing material,” Snowflake Unified School District Business Manager Mark Ollerton explained in a March 23 memo.
“This put a stop to everything, because it wasn’t up to code,” Ollerton advised the district governing board during a special meeting held March 24 to obtain approval for more work.
Ollerton explained that previously the district bid out electrical work to Phil Stratton Electric and found the firm to be a competitive vendor.
District officials met with Pat Cruse of the School Facilities Board March 15, then opened up a discussion with Phil Stratton.
Ollerton pointed out to the board that the only way the four vendors were working on the roof could progress was if an electrician relocated all the electric to the ceiling inside the buildings.
The district received a quote from Stratton the following day, which guaranteed power to the buildings before the start of school on March 21.
“The emergency, in this case, to the district was two-fold: 1. the district had exposed decking on the roofs at two buildings; and 2. there was no electricity to the classrooms and gymnasium, and students would be back on Monday, March 21,” according to the memo. “The district had a vendor they could trust and timeline that necessitated an emergency.”
Ollerton noted that due to spring break, it seemed impracticable to convene a governing board meeting and there was not enough time to go through the procurement process. According to Arizona law, due to student safety, all concerned felt that met the criteria on emergency procurement, so they contracted with Phil Stratton Electric for the $40,247.70 he bid on the project.
Project manager Darren Perkins explained that generally Cruse does not want to go with local contractors, but because they were coordinating the project with other contractors, he approved Phil Stratton Electric.
Cruse came by and, “As we walked through, he was very impressed with what Phil Stratton did,” said Perkins.
A motion to approve the emergency procurement and awarded the $40,247.70 contract to Phil Stratton Electric and give Superintendent Hollis Merrell authority to approve emergency procurement passed unanimously.
Ollerton noted that this put them four days behind, but they had power to all areas by 2:30 p.m. on March 20.
