Mike Wolanin | The Republic Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. school board candidate for District 6 Logan Schulz speaks during an IUPUC Office of Student Affairs candidate forum at the Columbus Learning Center in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2022.
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board members approved a contract with Taylor Bros and Pepper Construction to work as construction manager as constructors (CMc) on the new westside elementary school in a split vote 4-2.
Board members Jason Major and Logan Schulz voted against the motion and Board President Nikki Wheeldon was absent.
The board also unanimously approved a contract with Maxwell Construction to work as CMc on about $20 million in renovations at Smith Elementary School and Columbus East High School.
The CMc partnership packages were awarded during the school board meeting on April 15. A contract for a third CMc package awarded to Meyer Najem Construction for work on Northside Middle School and Columbus North High School will be voted on June 10.
Work on the three schools are all part phase 1 of the $306 million Envision 2030 facilities plan.
The school corporation’s 12th elementary school will cost an estimated $60 million and is to accommodate the city’s continued expansion to the west and to the south.
Major has stated he does not believe the new westside elementary school to be necessary due to projections he saw in the fall that show a reduction in BCSC students between 2021 and 2031. Major was the lone dissenting vote in the selection of the design architect for the new elementary school, Howeler+Yoon, and the awarding of the CMc packages during the April 15 meeting.
“Anytime we have discussion about approvals for anything during the elementary school, I will vote no because I don’t believe when we’re projecting a reduction in students over the next 10 years, that we need to be building capacity. It’s not a useful expenditure of tax money,” Major said on April 15.
Schulz, who voted in favor of awarding the CMc packages and selection of the design architect for the new elementary school in April, said he voted against the contract approval because the board solicited public comment without posting the contract online for the public to view and “challenged” the board to do so in the future.
“I could not vote yes on a $65M contract with over 100 pages of legal language, where we are asking for public input but have failed to post these contracts online for feedback,” Schulz said in a text message. “Taxpayers have the right to understand the specifics of how their money is being spent, especially if we want to ask for their public comment in good faith.”
