Bids unsealed for work on new Jackson-Milton school

NORTH JACKSON — Bids to begin work on a new middle school/high school were unsealed Tuesday.

Representatives of about 50 companies from the Youngstown and Akron areas attended the hourlong meeting at Jackson-Milton Elementary, 14110 Mahoning Ave., vying to win contracts for several phases of construction for a new $14.5 million school building.

Companies submitted bids for work on seven components of the 81,000-square-foot school. They are site work; concrete and masonry; general trades; fire protection; plumbing; electrical; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Contracts will likely be awarded by month’s end, Superintendent Buck Palmer noted.

The facility will go up just east of the elementary school on more than 100 acres the district owns between Interstate 76 and Mahoning Avenue. The school will be for pupils in grades six through 12 and is slated to open in September 2009. Construction should get under way in early May, Palmer said.

Alternate bids also were taken for an outdoor basketball court, a baseball field and a multi-purpose athletic field, among other things.

Reading the bids were officials with Ruhlin Construction Inc. of Akron and AVG Architects Inc. of Cleveland, the district’s construction manager and architect firm, respectively.

School officials will determine the lowest responsible bidders, then conduct interviews before the contracts are awarded, Treasurer John Zinger said.