OK Heating, Cooling Project
Oak Lawn High Schol 229 Board Approves New Company
A company has been chosen to do the work for a heating and cooling project at Oak Lawn Community High School.
The decision was made during the Oak Lawn High School District 229 Board meeting May 1.
The cost will be $13,950,000, which will go to Mechanical Incorporated.
Lead architect Abie Khatchadourian said that Mechanical Incorporated is a highly reputable company that “is best for the job.”
Board member James O’Malley said he will not approve the cost unless he has a breakdown of what the nearly $14 million project will include, detail for detail.
The board, along with Khatchadourian, informed O’Malley that the details will not include prices because Mechanical Inc. will be reluctant to give such information because the bid was not approved prior to the meeting.
Despite O’Malley’s view, the board voted “yes” for the project cost.
There were alternative suggestions that the board heard that could take place with the HVAC project.
They included $135,000 for conversion of a boiler room into usable space for students to possibly house exercise equipment.
The district will also be replacing a glass block stairwell for $26,000, and upgrade lighting in the Spartan Gym lobby for $26,000.
The board also voted to upgrade the lighting at the Southwest Highway entrance lobby for $7,000, a decision that also upset board member O’Malley.
“What is wrong with the lighting that is there already,” asked O’Malley. “If we keep adding changes, we are going to make this number ($13,950,000) go up too much.”
The board voted against two alternates: for an alternate control system for $200,000, and for completion of Phase 1 of the project to be completed by Aug. 15, which would have cost $500,000.
With these rejections, the board was able to keep the cost at $14.2 million in total.
The project is scheduled to begin in the summer.