Lamar RE-2 Board Hears Reports from LCC and Hutton Construction

At its monthly meeting on February 12, 2024, Board members were presented with a quarterly Financial Report as well as a quarterly Food Service Report.  Both showed that the district is in good shape financially.

Addressing the Board were Del Chase, Concurrent Enrollment Coordinator at Lamar Community College and Larry McLemore, Vice President of Academic Services/Student Services, also of LCC. They told the Board that Lamar High School is now an official satellite location for LCC, enabling students to remain at LHS while taking college classes for credit.  In the past, students were limited to 29 credits before they were required to attend classes on LCC’s campus but a new ruling has lifted that limit.  Board members were happy to hear the news and hoped it would encourage more students to take these classes with fewer barriers in the way.  Last school year, LHS students earned a total of 920 college credits.

Also present for the meeting were representatives of Hutton Construction of Garden City, Kansas, who gave both an update on progress for the new stadium as well as giving the Board options on bids submitted for Package Two of the project.  Some items came in above budgeted amounts and some were below.  The company supplying the metal siding and roof trim required a decision to be made by the following day, so Board members decided and voted on two color samples so that the materials could be ordered.  The other parts of the building that will be color-matched to this metal will be painted so a decision on those can be done at a later date and didn’t need Board approval yet.  Also, a final decision on block used for the lower few feet of the building does not need to be decided upon immediately.  The company made their recommendations to the Board regarding which bids they felt would be in the best interest of the project.  The Board decided to delay deciding on a bid for the fencing contract, wanting to look into hiring someone local to do the work, as the local bids submitted were close to the ones from companies outside the Lamar community.   Bid items including asphalt, site concrete and the scoreboard were tabled for future meetings.

The next regularly-scheduled Board meeting will be March 11, 2024 at 5:30 PM.

By Barbara Crimond