Fountain Hills board outlines phased $2.5 million consolidation plan, schedules special meeting to pursue gym‑floor grant

Fountain Hills Unified School board members heard a detailed finance briefing on the district's school consolidation project and set a special meeting to act on a time‑sensitive grant application.

Tyler, the district finance presenter, walked the board through procurement methods under consideration — design‑bid‑build, construction manager at risk (CMAR), job order contracting (JOC) and cooperative purchasing — and said the district will use a mix of approaches based on project size and complexity. "As the district moves forward in the consolidation process, we are going to have to secure a general contractor at some point to help with some of this construction," Tyler said, explaining the tradeoffs between low‑price hard bids and qualifications‑based awards for large, variable projects.

Board members and staff agreed to prioritize safety and basic operations in phase 1. Superintendent Dr. Jay said the first phase will include perimeter fencing at the middle school to address security gaps and playground purchases for the elementary school. He described a phased approach for other items and said some work will be done without Orcutt Winslow if vendors can provide more direct, lower‑cost procurement for play equipment and similar items.

Finance staff said the district set an "all‑in" budget of $2,500,000 for the consolidation project, with roughly $1,800,000 estimated for actual construction costs and about $700,000 budgeted for contingencies. Tyler said the board will see specific procurement items brought back with proposed costs so members can track spending in agenda materials.

A separate but urgent matter prompted the board to schedule a short special meeting. Staff said a grant from the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority could cover about two‑thirds of the high‑school small‑gym flooring replacement. The flooring was estimated at nearly $130,000; staff said the grant would pay about 66.6% (about $86,000), leaving roughly $43,000 for the district if the application is approved. Because the grant application deadline is March 31, the board set a 20‑minute special meeting for March 29 at 5 p.m. to provide the required board commitment letter and any approvals needed to submit the application.

Tyler told the board they will begin seeing specific capital and procurement items in future packets — playground orders (long lead items), fencing designs, and any scope needing general‑contractor involvement — and that staff will provide prior costs and proposed costs so the board can track changes. "We'll be transparent in that process and we can have that total budget," he said.

Next steps: staff will bring procurement agenda items and documentation to the board for approval, prepare the grant‑application materials for the March 29 meeting and continue phased planning to keep the project within the established budget.