ELY — The Ely school board voted Tuesday to award a $6.5 million construction bid for athletic facility improvements, even as officials acknowledged the district must immediately roll back the scope of work to stay within its $5.25 million state grant.
The board approved the Max Gray Construction bid of $6,547,042.91 at a special meeting, with the understanding that a change order reducing the contract by more than $2.6 million will follow at the next meeting. The net estimated contract amount after cuts comes to $3,912,880.82.
“We’re not going over $5.25 million. We don’t have any other money because we’ve been in financial challenges for the last couple of years,” Superintendent Anne Oelke said.
The gap between the lowest bid and available funds forced the facilities committee to identify cuts across multiple project areas. The district received the grant through a minerals tax belt provision, with $250,000 designated for baseball field renovations and $5 million for broader athletic complex improvements.
According to a contract modification document dated April 22, the eight items being removed total roughly $2.63 million. The largest single cut is $1,108,000 for the hockey arena shell, including downspouts and gutters, a decision the facilities committee wrestled with given the building’s known water and weathering issues. The ice arena’s structural columns, which failed after cables embedded in the floor were cut during a past ice sheet installation by volunteers, will still be repaired under the revised scope. But reskinning the building’s exterior, and addressing leaks and weathering, was pushed out.
“The shell didn’t affect them from not playing hockey,” Oelke said.
The second-largest cut is $448,564 for a coating treatment on the football grandstand floor. That decision was driven in part by uncertainty over lead paint. The grandstand dates to 1936, and project manager Jason Chopp of SEH Engineering said green paint of that era almost certainly contains lead, making abatement costs unpredictable and any surface coating warrantied for only three to four years.
Other cuts include $291,897 for improvements to the football field, $200,000 for estimated deductions to arena stormwater infrastructure, $159,000 for a baseball field viewing deck aluminum railing — to be replaced with a less expensive fencing option — $48,000 for gymnasium wall plaster, and $330,000 for football grandstand improvements beyond ADA accessibility.
To be completed in a separate construction season is the ADA-accessible ramp to the football grandstand. The aluminum ramp is a specialty product, and the manufacturer cannot guarantee delivery before February, pushing installation to spring 2027. All other components are expected to wrap up by the end of October.
The gym also saw a reduction. Rather than stripping and replastering walls, crews will apply new material over the existing surface. The ceiling will still receive acoustic spray treatment, which board members said should brighten the space and reduce noise.
The board also approved a professional services agreement with SEH for construction administration.
Oelke acknowledged the difficulty of fitting the project within its budget after nearly two years of planning, multiple stakeholder meetings, and a needs assessment that originally identified $18 million in facility improvements.