WILLIAMSON – The new Mingo Central High School’s building design is nearing completion and contractor bidding documents are to be submitted to the School Building Authority and other state regulatory agencies within two weeks.

That was a feature of an update on the current status of the building project provided by Charleston architect Ted A. Shriver in his report Tuesday to the Mingo County Board of Education.

“We anticipate approval to release the project to bid by the first of February and open bids by the second week of March,” said Shriver.

He said the bid package will include all phases of the building construction – plumbing, HVAC (heating, ventilating and air-conditioning), electrical, fire suppression and furnishings and equipment.

“An onsite utilities bid packages will also be included to install the water and sewer piping to the system being installed by Nicewonder Contracting,” he added.

Wintry weather conditions resulted in cancellation of a Jan. 8 groundbreaking ceremony for the new school, but Shriver told the school board the project could be released to bid by Feb. 1.

Shriver, who is vice president of Williamson Shriver Architects Inc. of Charleston, presented a progress report on the school project at a regular meeting of the Mingo Board and responded to questions from Board President Charles S. West and other members of the board, which also include Vice President Jacqueline Branch, William Duty, Dr. J.W. Endicott and Michael Carter.

Mingo County School Superintendent Dwight D. Dials said a symbolic groundbreaking may still be scheduled later although much activity is in progress on the school site at this time.

Shriver, who was accompanied to the meeting at Cinderella by Joe Evans, educational planner for the architectural firm, emphasized the “progress” being made in the school project.

The school complex is being constructed on approximately 75 acres of land located between Red Jacket and Varney and donated by Nicewonder Contracting as a byproduct of the construction of the King Coal Highway which will serve the new school.

Shriver reported that the project is moving forward with a budget of $36.9 million. He said the first construction contract for the site development work has been issued by the (state) Board of Education to Carpenter Reclamation, utilizing a competitive bid process in the amount of $1.44 million.

He noted that the previous project estimate from 2003 or 2004 was at $74.0 million with $38.0 million being associated with expansive amounts of earthwork being shaped to allow for a building site, roads and parking, construction of an access road to the site at the top of the hill as well as bringing water and sewer facilities to the site.

“Our budget today of $36.9 million does not include this expansive earthwork project, road or utility work since it is all being donated to the Board by Nicewonder Contracting and their private sector partners,” said Shriver. “What a great gift to the board and the citizens of Mingo County.”

The architect said the site development work currently underway is approximately 20 percent complete with the fine grading in progress, erosion and sediment control including the sediment pond.

He said that other ongoing work includes the dynamic compaction process, which applies concentrated loading of the engineered fill to further compress the materials within the building pad area.

“All of the site work is being monitored and tested by Novell Geo Environmental, the board’s geotechnical engineer,” said Shriver. “The next phase of this contract will include piping and drainage structures for the storm sewer system leading the pond.”

He said the building has moved through several phases of State approval processes including the School Building Authority of West Virginia and is moving forward very well.

“The current comprehensive high school contains 172,535 square feet for 882 students and is comprised of 38 classrooms, made up of core classrooms as well as special needs classrooms and business labs,” Shriver reported. “The band room will house approximately 85 band members and has direct access to the theater as well as the loading dock for transporting instruments to off-campus functions.”

Other information provided by the architect pertaining to the school complex includes the following:

The commons area of the school is a multifunction room for the school. It mainly serves as the dining room over two lunch periods, however, it could serve as a community meeting space, dances or for board meetings. After normal school hours, the space becomes a place where intermission of performances in the auditorium could take place or food and drink enjoyed during halftime of a basketball or volleyball game. The commons also serves as the dining space or a cafe associated with the Pro-Start vocational program.

The school has been designed on multiple levels to match the slope of the land as prepared by Nicewonder Contracting. The main entry of the school provides access to the commons area, kitchen or food service area, auditorium and library media center as well as the upper level of the gymnasium.

Shriver said that due to the sloping site, it became evident that the gym needed to be on two levels. The upper level of the gym has access from the main school level and the lower level is at the parking lot level. The gymnasium has multiple seating options for the disabled; either the front row on the lower level or the front row on the upper level. The academic area is on the first floor as well as the second floor. The vocational school is on a level just a few feet below the first floor and is handicapped accessible by means of an elevator just as the academic area is designed.

Shriver reported that security has been designed into the school so that the library media center and the vocational school can be accessed in the evening without giving the general public full access to the academic portions of the building.

This limited access complies with the Governor’s safe schools act by minimizing the required supervision and monitoring. Other security features of the building include card access control, video monitoring and the “safe schools entry” being incorporated currently throughout the county and the state.

The school board had received a request from Hugh C. Boyd No. 119, AF & AM, Red Jacket, for permission to place a cornerstone in the new central high school. The local board did not act on the request since it would have to be approved by the state Board of Education.