Lone Tree

The Lone Tree school board interviewed its top two Construction Manager candidates for the HVAC project that will face voters in the form of a bond referendum this November.

City Construction, based out of Iowa City, and Miron Construction, based out of Wisconsin with a regional office in Cedar Rapids, each sent teams to Wednesday night’s board meeting hoping to be selected to manage the project, should voters approve it this fall.

There were three major differences between the two companies and their proposals: Cost, timeframe, and how to handle flooding in tunnels the school planned to use for the project.

City Construction’s plan, which was the less expensive of the two at $486,425, would complete the project in a single summer, with night and weekend work extending into the 2027-2028 school year if necessary, while bypassing the flooded tunnels. 

“We found out that some of the tunnels were flooded, and it may make sense to abandon them altogether and run all your piping tight to the ceilings,” City Construction co-owner Mike Nemschoff said. “We are able to do that, we could get all the infrastructure done this April through the summer, then work on nights and weekends to get the rest of the classrooms up and running without an impact to the students or staff.” 

Miron Construction, whose bid cost came in at $648,468, would space the project out over two summers to avoid any disruptions to the school year. Miron representatives indicated that they planned to dewater the tunnels in order to adhere to the district’s original proposal.

Initial reactions from the board favored Miron Construction’s performance in the interview.

A key duty of the construction manager would be securing federal construction incentives. According to an analysis from architecture/engineering consultant Shive-Hattery, the project could be eligible for as much as $2 million in government incentives.

“Whoever you pick, make sure you have them read chapter 26A over and over and over again,” Miron Senior Vice President of Education Joel Stave said, referencing the section of Iowa code that establishes the process for guaranteed maximum price contracts. “It’s four pages, but you read it and then you hit a pitfall of ‘Did I interpret that correctly?’ As long as you comply with 26A, you’ll be okay.”

The board will make its final decision on the matter at its next meeting on October 7.

HVAC Bond Public Information Sessions

The district has scheduled two public information sessions concerning the bond and the HVAC project.

The meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, September 30 and Tuesday, October 20. Both will begin at 5:30 p.m.. Representatives from both the school board and its architecture/engineering consultant for the project, Shive-Hattery, will answer questions from voters. 

Those in attendance will also be shown a video on the project and have the option to tour the existing boiler room.