By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Still no bulldozers, but the wheels are turning behind the scenes for the new Bowling Green High School. The Bowling Green Board of Education voted Monday evening to contract with DLR Group Inc. for architectural and engineering work on the project.
The DLR Group was hired by the district last year to draw preliminary plans for a potential new high school. The plans stirred excitement in the community, and after several tries, voters passed the levy in November for the new building.
The board action Monday will give DLR the job of planning for the new high school building, the partial demolition of the existing high school, and the conversion of the remaining area of the old school into the proposed Bowling Green City Schools Activities Center.
“This is a big step in the process,” Superintendent Ted Haselman said during the meeting.
The next step will begin later this week, when the bids are due for the project manager at risk for the overall project.
In other updates on the high school project, Haselman reported that test bores had been done in the current practice field located to the south of the football field. The tests are needed since the district plans to install geothermal energy and a new parking lot there.
The exact spot for the relocated practice field is still being determined, Haselman said.
Also at the meeting, the board accepted the resignation of Charles Martin as director of the district’s buildings and grounds. The board filled the vacancy by hiring James Witt, who recently retired as Lake Schools superintendent. Witt will be given a two-year contract with a base salary of $95,000 – the same salary currently paid to Martin.
In other business at the board meeting Lori Brodie, regional liaison for the state auditor, presented an award to Bowling Green Schools Treasurer Cathy Schuller for the last financial audit by the state.
Brodie said of the more than 5,900 public entities audited by the state each year, only 8% have clean audits, she said, praising the work of Schuller and all the district staff.
The next monthly board meeting will be held in a location outside Bowling Green, at the request of citizens. The board will meet at the Portage Village building at 110 W. Walnut St., Portage.
“Some of you spoke, and we listened,” Board President Tracy Hovest said.
