Highlands awards contracts for Tarentum elementary school work

Highlands School Board awarded three contracts for work at the district’s elementary school in Tarentum.

Two of the contracts, totaling about $92,100, are for repairs to Highlands Elementary’s deteriorated clock tower.

The district will pay Marsa Inc. $60,800 for restoration work on the clock tower’s masonry and BurMac Roofing $31,282 to replace the tower’s roof.

Marsa tried to submit a proposal the first time the district sought bids for work on the clock tower, but the company’s representative arrived a few minutes after the district’s deadline and the district did not accept the company’s bid.

The district ultimately rejected both of the bids it received and sought them a second time.

Marsa submitted the lowest of four bids in the second round. Those bids were opened in July.

A $25,000 donation from businessman John Greco Jr. and his wife, Sally Greco, of Lower Burrell is helping to pay for work on the clock tower.

The school board also awarded a $7,930 contract to Baker’s Waterproofing to repair the gym floor at the elementary school.

The job will include installing a perimeter water drainage system.

The system chosen is used where there is an iron problem in the groundwater, which can cause a build up of paste or gel inside a waterproofing system and clog it, according to documentation that Baker’s Waterproofing provided to the district. The system being installed can be accessed for cleaning.