Sounds of hammers and nails will soon be heard coming from Watershed Park in Addison Twp. as exterior work is scheduled to get under way this week on the Arnold School building.
The Addison Twp. Board of Trustees voted at their Monday, Oct. 18 meeting to award the contract to Oxford’s own Genesis Building & Development for renovation of the Arnold School building.
Genesis Building & Development submitted a bid of $14,800.
According to Addison Twp. Supervisor Bruce Pearson, Genesis was the only company that submitted a bid for the project. ‘It’s fortunate for us that Genesis is the lowest bidder all the time, but it is unfortunate for other people not to bid,? Pearson said.
Genesis was also the lowest bidder when the township wanted to redo the siding on Milmine Hall.
Pearson said that bid notices were sent out to all of the contractors who bid on Milmine Hall; however, none of the businesses sent in a bid.
He thinks that since Genesis was the lowest bidder on Milmine, companies didn’t want to bid against them anymore once they saw how much cheaper Genesis was.
‘I think that people said that there is no way we are going to make any money against them, so nobody else wanted to bid,? Pearson said.
While the new wood siding is being installed, two new porches will be added. One will be an eight foot by 12 foot porch on the front of the building, while a 48 inch by 48 inch side porch with handicap ramp will also be installed.
Once complete, a team of volunteers will work on restoring the inside of the building to it’s original form.
In the Leader article ‘Addison seeks bids to renovate Arnold School,? Pearson noted that originally items from the school, including the original bell, teacher’s chalkboard, desk and 48-star flag have been donated by descendents of children who attended school there.
Once the Arnold School is complete, a park ranger station will occupy the basement and the main classroom space will turn into an educational center.