Bids open for Starlight renovations

MCBDD+Administration+Community+Support+building+located+on+Zane+Street+will+be+relocated+to+the+same+site+as+the+Starlight+School+on+Newark+Road.

MCBDD Administration Community Support building located on Zane Street will be relocated to the same site as the Starlight School on Newark Road.

By Jessica Johnston, Assistant News Director

A two-part renovation project for Starlight Programs will soon be underway as children leave school for the summer.

Tuesday morning, bids were opened during a special meeting with the Muskingum County Commissioners to start the process for renovations at Starlight.

“The project is two-fold. In our school we’re going to be doing some HVAC renovations, we’re going to be replacing some windows that need replaced and we’ll also be doing some asbestos removal,” Stephanie Neuhart, the business manager for the Muskingum County Board of Developmental Disabilities, said. “And then the second part of the project is we will be relocating our community services department from our building on Zane Street to the building up behind the school on Newark Road, just everybody will all be in one site.”

Two bids were submitted for the project. Lepi Enterprises, Inc. submitted a bid totaling just over $2.8 million. Paul Construction also submitted a bid totaling over $2.6 million.

The project estimate submitted to the commissioners was $3.1 million.

Both bids will be taken under advisement by the project architect. The architect will then present his research from each bid to the MCBDD on Thursday evening and the board will make a recommendation to the commissioners.

Neuhart said the commissioners indicated they would work to award the chosen bid during Monday’s session.

Upon the bid being awarded, Neuhart said materials would be ordered immediately following the award of the bid in order to get the project started as soon as possible.

With summer break starting for students in the coming weeks, Neuhart said the project is under a “tight timeline,” but she’s hoping the project will begin next week or the following week.