Football Field Press Box Bids Come Up Short

A new press box for the Montville Township High School football field is planned, and the school district wants to explore the possibility of adding a second story when the new structure is built.

To get the job done, the district may end up negotiating with contractors directly because publicly advertising for bids didn't yield any proposals that included two stories, as required.

After advertising for bids twice, the lone bidder in each case, Dant Clayton Corporation, didn't include an alternate proposal for a two-story structure, school district business administrator Jim Tevis said Monday.

On Tuesday, the Board of Education is expected to vote on rejecting the bid from the most recent bid opening and authorize having Tevis negotiate a contract for the school board's approval.

Tevis said the district would like to try to get "as much bang for our buck as we can."

The district has budgeted $110,000 for the press box replacement. The first bid from Dant Clayton came in at $77,500, but was rejected because it didn't include a required alternate, two-story proposal. Its second bid came in at $115,000, and still didn't include a two-story proposal, Tevis said.

The Board of Education rejected the bid the first time and then re-bid.

Tevis said the press box replacement is needed and was budgeted for independent of the installation of the new synthetic turf field. Coaches had filmed from the roof of the press box, but eventually weren't allowed on the roof because it was not in good condition, he said.