POTTSTOWN PA – The general contractor already involved in expanding and renovating the Pottsgrove School District‘s Ringing Rocks Elementary School on Kauffmann Road in Pottstown PA has won its $381,000 bid to also repair a crumbling retaining wall and other structural elements outside Pottsgrove Middle School on North Hanover Street.

The retaining wall at Pottsgrove Middle School

Contractor E.R. Stuebner Inc. of Reading PA received the Middle School job last Tuesday (June 14, 2011) in a unanimous vote of the Board of School Directors, whose members had no other comment on the project. The work is expected to get under way this summer.

A separate group of structural engineers in December 2009 determined that water over time has penetrated the wall, is even pooling behind it in some places, and has weakened its red-colored masonry veneer. Some of its steel components are rusted and flaking. Mortar joints are cracked, sealants are missing, and there are open joints around embedded railing posts topping the wall, the report by Baker, Ingram and Associates said.

The school district must shoulder the repair costs alone, administrators claimed, after their research indicated Pottsgrove probably would have little if any recourse against the original builder.

Stuebner’s bid is more than $160,000 lower than the $550,000 price tag the district had estimated for the repairs. That’s due, in part, according to Business Administrator David Nester, to the fact that much of Stuebner’s equipment and manpower is currently at work on the Ringing Rocks project and won’t need to be moved far. The two jobs will proceed simultaneously, Nester said.

Stuebner employees seem to be extra busy this year, according to recent releases from its account on Twitter, the popular social media website. The company in March was awarded construction of the new $42 million Bishop McDevitt Catholic high school in Lower Paxton (PA) Township. It’s building an Exeter PA branch office for Diamond Credit Union, as well as another elementary school in Middleburg PA.

The retaining wall fixes were high on a to-do list of tasks presented earlier this year to school board members by district Director of Facilities and Physical Plants Michael Katzenmoyer. The board also approved other Katzenmoyer-recommended projects; they include:

• Replacing the wall padding in the West Pottsgrove Elementary School gym, awarded to bidder R.J. McCarville Associates, for $4,700;
• Concrete sidewalk replacement at Pottsgrove High School, K&K Construction, $10,974;
• Lighting supplies within the district, Denny Electric of Ambler PA, $5,601;
• Crack fill and seal coating at West Pottsgrove, ChemSeal, $7,975;
• Lighting supplies for the West Pottsgrove gym, Denny Electric, $2,237; and
• Elevator repairs and installation of an emergency telephone at Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School, Tri-State Elevator Co. Inc., $5,860.

Related:

• Pottsgrove Board Awards MS Retaining Wall Bid, Others
• Pottsgrove Calls For Bids In MS Wall Repair Project
• Retaining Wall Tops Pottsgrove List Of Needed Repairs
• Pottsgrove MS Retaining Wall Needs ‘Significant’ Repair

Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ June 14 meeting):

• Pottsgrove Board Awards MS Retaining Wall Bid, Others
• Western Center Celebrates Over High-Scoring Students
• ‘Cyber School, Here We Come,’ Pottsgrove Proclaims
• Budget-Motivated Pottsgrove Admin Changes Approved
• Pottsgrove OKs Personnel Items Affecting 55 Positions
• Plan To Further Cut Pottsgrove Tax Hike Dies In Tie