Sep 242012
By Francie Payne
A nearly $5 million contract for the construction of a skill center on the Painted Desert campus of North-land Pioneer College in Holbrook was awarded to Whiteriver Construction Tuesday morning.
The 26,600-square foot facility will be located on the southwest portion of the campus, and will initially house the welding and building construction programs, and provide space for computer-based testing, shared functions and future program development, likely associated with potash mining.
Construction is slated to begin in October and be completed prior to the fall semester in 2013.
Whiteriver Construction submitted a base bid of $4,598,382, plus $23,795 for Alternative 1, Portland Ce
Drawing by DLR Group/courtesy of Northland Pioneer College
The Navajo County Community College District Governing Board has awarded a construction con-tract for a skills center on the Painted Desert Campus in Holbrook to Whiteriver Construction. The center will be constructed to the west of the Tiponi Community Center.
Prior to awarding the contract, the Navajo County Community College District Governing Board allowed SDB Construction Services, the apparent low bidder, to withdraw its bid due to a numerical error, namely a bid of -$13,000 on Alternate 3. That made Whiteriver Construction the low bidder.
The remaining bidders included: Kenney Construction Services, $6,095,000 base bid, $386,000 for all alternates and $6,481,000 total; Woodruff Construction, $4,777,206 base bid, $231,210 for all alternates and $5,008,416 total; FCI Contractors, $4,787,566 base bid, $295,700 for all alternates and $5,083,266 total; Greenburg Construction, $5,562,100 base bid, $278,200 for all alternates and $5,840,300 total; Concord, $5,110,833 base bid, $272,500 for all alternates and $5,383,333 total; Straightline Builders, $5,012,960 base bid, $381,957 for all alternates and $5,394,917 total; Sun Eagle, $5,082,000 base bid, $330,000 for all alter-nates and $5,412,000 total; Crouse-Anderson, $5,375,000 base bid, $375,000 all alternates and $5,750,000 total; Low Mountain Construction, $5,191,000 base bid, $242,000 all alternates and $5,433,000 total; and Beck Southwest, $5,109,587.09 base bid, $259,500 for all alternates and $5,369,087.09 total.
NPC President Dr. Jeanne Swarthout advised the board that a groundbreaking ceremony for the project would be scheduled in the near future.
In other action Sept. 18, the board:
* Waived the standard and approved emeritus status for Leslie Collins, academic advisor at the White Mountain Campus in Show Low.
The waiver was required because Collins has been with the college for 12 years, rather than the normal standard of 15 years for emeritus status.
She is the longest serving academic advisor, and has served as “a mentor, trainer and friend to a new generation of NPC academic advisors,” according to her nomination by Vice President for Learning and Student Services Mark Vest. “She has willingly traveled throughout the district to train new staff while simultaneously maintaining the highest student advisee load in the college.
“Ms. Collins has also served as a psychology adjunct faculty for NPC, taken on additional responsibilities as tutoring coordinator, alternative credit evaluator and dual enrollment/NAVIT placement tester. She has always been willing to serve on college committees, and consistently provides thoughtful and reasoned input through the shared governance process.”
Collins will retire from NPC at the end of September.
* Approved the appointment of Vest, Vice President of Administrative Services Blaine Hatch, and Dean of Career and Technical Education Peggy Belknap as the college’s representatives on the newly formed Northern Arizona Training Center Board of Directors.
The board was advised that the NATC board voted Sept. 14 to amend the bylaws of the organization to comply with Arizona State General Session Law. In the past, the NATC board had five voting members rep-resenting NPC, Navajo County, the Town of Taylor, the fire chief association and the law enforcement association. The new board will have three voting members, all representing NPC. The remaining stakeholders will be represented by non-voting members.
* Approved the purchase of Nolij Web, a document imaging and workflow solution, from Jenzabar, Inc. for $340,000 plus applicable taxes, and declared Nolij and FEITH sole source providers for document imag-ing and work flow solutions based on their partnerships with Jenzabar.
The solution will be primarily used in records and registration, financial aid, financial services and human resources.
* Approved the purchase of networking equipment from World Wide Technology, Inc. of Tempe in the amount of $58,166.59.
The purchase will cover the upgrade of a router at the White Mountain Campus to support the recent large-scale increase in network traffic. The existing router will be used to provide services elsewhere in the college. Two new switches are also included in the purchase. They will support a server enclosure at the White Mountain Campus that provides critical services to college operations.
* Awarded a contract to print, bind, mail prep and deliver the 2013 class schedules to Signature Offset of Tempe, the lowest priced qualified responder at $50,257.18.
The contract includes 54,000 copies of the spring schedule, 47,500 copies of the summer schedule and 54,000 copies of the fall schedule.
Others who submitted proposals included Liberty Press of Springville, Utah, $54,688; and RR Donnelley and Moore Wallace of Lewisville, Texas, $68,001.08.
* Approved a drainage easement to the City of Show Low in connection with site improvements address-ing parking and circulation at the White Mountain Campus.
The city plans to assist in the maintenance of the natural storm water drainage flow through the eastern edge of the college district’s property.
* Approved dual enrollment agreements the Blue Ridge and Ganado school districts, and Hopi Junior/Senior High School.
* Heard a report from Hatch, who is serving as interim human resources director.
New hires include Betsy Peck as an Early Childhood Development faculty member, and Stacy Ashcraft as a cosmetology faculty member.
Open positions include director of human resources, Department of Corrections part-time faculty, EMS part-time program clerk, database administrator, director of administrative systems support, nursing faculty, small business analyst and assistant to the campus manager.
* Was advised of upcoming meetings, including a governing board retreat at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27, at the Hopi Center in Polacca; the District Governing Board Legislative Summit on Friday, Oct. 5, in Flagstaff, and the next regular board meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 16, Tiponi Community Center on the Painted Desert Campus.
Items on the retreat agenda include the three-year tuition plan, the budget, the NATC, the salary plan and the master facility plan.
