School board approves going out to bid for bus loop

The Hot Springs County School Board on Jan. 20 considered the disposition of the district’s play park and the next steps toward its bus loop, as Superintendent Dustin Hunt acknowledged the significant amount of discussion among different entities within the community about “what might happen” with the play park, and with our bus loop “possibilities taking place.”

Hunt summed up the efforts to relocate the play park to the Hot Springs State Park, then to the town of Thermopolis, by noting that engineers for the state, and representatives of the town, were unwilling to accept hosting the play park, due to concerns they harbored about potential liability and other issues, so there are currently no plans to relocate the park

According to Board Treasurer Nichole Weyer, “This confirms what we’ve been saying for a while now. If engineers with the state, and multiple other people, are saying it isn’t a safe situation for it to be moved somewhere else, it also proves that it’s not safe for us to really keep it up either.”

When the board turned to the memo on the bus loop construction bid, Hunt proposed that, should the board approve going out to bid, the district should ask for two numbers from each of its potential bidders, depending on whether the bidders themselves took down the park, versus whether they allowed somebody else to take down the park on their behalf.

“We would need both of those numbers, in case we have a community group come forward in the meantime, that does want to do that piece of it,” Hunt said. “I don’t know if that will come about in the timeframe that we have, but I think we should keep that available.”

Weyer moved that the board approve going out for bid for the bus loop, which board trustee Rick Engelbrecht seconded.

Board Clerk Joe Martinez raised the sole question during the discussion period, asking, “I know we kind of talked about the elementary side of things over here, and the drop-off zone, and how that’s going to change when the bus loop changes, but are we going to try and do that on a separate deal afterwards, or are we going to try and do things at the same time, during the summertime, so that they’re working side by side?”

Business Manager Chauncy Johnson did indeed recommend the district deal with these distinct needs through separate projects.

“It’s all encompassed by the same concept of what we’ve talked about, but I think the majority of the changes that we’re talking about in the current bus drop-off area are more like painting lines,” Johnson said. “There won’t be actual construction on the pavement at the moment.”

Johnson recommended the district go out for bids for the actual construction of the bus loop.

“We need to bring back plans and any bidding that would need to occur for the front part of the elementary school, but again, I would see those as two separate projects,” Johnson said.

The school board unanimously voted to issue formal approval to go out for bid for the bus loop.