South Range to use last of new schools’ money to build bus garage

July 27, 2015 at 10:12p.m.

NORTH LIMA

The South Range Board of Education unanimously approved the construction design for a new bus garage.

Bids for the project will be advertised for four weeks, said Brett Hendricks, of Balog, Steines, Hendricks and Manchester Architects Inc. of Youngstown, the architect firm that built the new South Range schools complex.

BSHM is the architect on the new bus garage, to be built across the gravel drive from the school board offices and where a current shed stands that will be torn down. The project will be funded by the last of the local fund initiative from the new school bond issue.

Specifically, it is between $100,000 and $105,000 for about 3,200 square feet, or triple the current shed that is there now. Hendricks called the design simple for the two-bay door garage, with a third door for storage and space for maintenance work. That money had been earmarked in the new schools bond for a bus garage and the district had pursued a land purchase for the last few years but that did not work out.

“We’re not doing overhauling of engines or things like that. This is just minor maintenance. The ability to get our buses in and out of the weather two at a time,” said Dennis Dunham, South Range superintendent, of work to be done in the garage. “We can get in there to safely work on buses instead of outside, [such as] headlamp issues, marker lights, windshield wipers so you can get them out of the elements rather than sending buses out for minor services ...”