West Aurora schools poised to hire architects for building projects
The West Aurora school board is planning to hire two architectural firms to design new buildings and other projects for which voters in April agreed to borrow $84.2 million.
The master services agreements are with Studio GC Inc. of Chicago, and Cordogan Clark and Associates of Aurora.
The board will discuss the matter at its meeting Monday night.
The agreements do not specify a total cost. Instead, the architects' compensation will be determined project by project.
Those payments will either be stipulated sums, or a percentage of the cost of the projects, approximately 7 to 8 percent, according to the proposed agreements.
The district has used both firms before. Studio GC did work in 2007 to estimate how much it would cost to provide more air conditioning to district schools, and for a geothermal system installed at Smith Elementary School. Cordogan Clark worked on the construction of Greenman Elementary and Herget Middle schools.
Because the district has already worked with the firms, state law does not require it to solicit proposals or bids for the agreements.
"Both Studio GC and Cordogan Clark have long histories of providing services to the district and we have built partnerships we wished to continue with the referendum projects," spokesman Tony Martinez said.
Studio GC Inc paid a $6,021.42 bill for "consulting services" performed by Elect Inc. on behalf of the West Aurora Volunteers for Education political committee. WAVE ran a "vote yes" campaign urging voters to approve the district's request. The contribution is listed on campaign finance reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
The district proposes to build a replacement Hill Elementary School; install geothermal heating and cooling systems at nine schools; install air conditioning at Todd Early Learning Center; add classrooms at five schools; renovate locker rooms and add a field house, a multipurpose space and a corridor connection at West Aurora High School; build a combination early childhood education center and district administrative building; put a canopy over the student drop-off area at Hope Wall School; and build tornado safety zones in two schools.
The school board is also due to vote on an agreement for the city of Aurora to allocate up to $1.77 million of its allotted portion in qualified energy conservation bonds on behalf the school district, for energy conservation related projects.
The federal government would pay part of the interest on the money borrowed, under the Energy Extension Improvement Act of 2008 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.