Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008

District selects contractor for new elementary school; some cry foul

Business owners angered contract was given to Sacramento company.

By DANIELLE GAINES
dgaines@mercedsun-star.com

For the third straight meeting of the Merced City School District board, conversation centered on the proposed construction of Rivera Elementary School.

The board approved WLC Construction Services of Sacramento as the construction manager for the $16 million project, but not before several local contractors and business owners denounced the decision.

"It would be a terrible thing to let this local taxpayer money go to a business out of town," said Jack Mobley, the owner of ServiceMaster in Merced and a member of the county planning commission. "I am sure WLC is a wonderful company, but I also know there are wonderful companies in town."

Some board members seemed to agree that the worst thing for Merced's economy is to take business elsewhere.

"It is very important to me to have locals do the jobs that they are able to do," said board member Gene Stamm. "I want to make sure that we can get local contractors as part of this project."

Stamm later voted to give WLC the contract.

As it stands, WLC remains the architect of the project and will also provide comprehensive construction management.

The contractors, subcontractors and builders for the project will not be hired or solicited until early spring after state funding has been secured and finalized by WLC.

Paul Bonaccorsi, the president of WLC, said his company always uses local contractors and when the time comes, they will do the same for this project.

"Local is what we will be using and what we will be advertising for," said Bonaccorsi.

Ken Testa, the district's chief facilities officer, also made clear his commitment to hiring locally. "I just want to mention for the record that I am very interested in using local contractors," he said. "Right now I can point to many projects in our district that are using local contractors."

The proposed elementary school will serve students in kindergarten through fifth grade and will be located on the same grounds as Rivera Middle School.

Reporter Danielle Gaines can be reached at (209) 385-2407 or dgaines@mercedsun-star.com.