Wrenshall lines up air quality, asbestos removal bids

The Wrenshall School Board earlier this week approved bids for indoor air quality improvements at the school in Wrenshall. The board accepted the low bid of $4,158,000 from Max Gray Construction out of Hibbing to improve air quality in the older parts of the school. The board also accepted a bid of $436,922 from Mavo Systems out of Duluth for asbestos abatement. The board approved bonding for the work last year without a referendum from voters.

Superintendent Kim Belcastro has said the work was too vital to wait for any improvements that might come with possible consolidation funding, which still has to go through the legislature and a vote from residents in Carlton and Wrenshall with work starting next year at the earliest. Belcastro said the air and asbestos work could be started early if schools do not reopen due to the COVID-19 measures put in place last month.

“I am trying to find the positives with the current state of things in our schools,” Belcastro said.

The bids for the air quality project were competitive, with the next lowest coming in just $85,000 higher. The high bid was $4.6 million compared to the $4.2 million accepted. Mechanical work will be done by Jamar Companies and electrical work by Belknap Electric. Other bids on the asbestos work, with Mavo’s $436,922 accepted, were $484,868 and $574,900.

Consolidation front

The combined committee of Wrenshall and Carlton school board members is recommending Adolfson and Peterson out of Duluth to be the construction manager for improvements at district schools should there be an acceptance from voters for a consolidation of the district. Each board will vote on the recommendation at the regular board meeting April 20.

The districts had been hoping to receive state funding for a possible consolidation through a bill introduced in the current session of the state legislature. But most work of lawmakers has been on hold since the COVID-19 measures were put in place in March. Belcastro said she and Carlton superintendent Gwen Carman remain in contact with Rep. Mike Sundin and Sen. Jason Rarick, along with the lobbyist the districts hired, and remain hopeful that a large part of the $40 million cost — as much as 40 percent — to improve schools for a consolidation will be paid through state funding. The districts had hoped to know if the funding was coming by the end of the session in May in order to put consolidation up to a public vote in an August referendum. Should things be delayed and interrupt that timeline, there could be a referendum as part of the general election in November. That would likely set the consolidation plan back an entire school year, further complicating the plan in Carlton to hand over the high school to Carlton County for a jail expansion.

Not leaving

The Kanabec County Times in Mora has reported that the district there has chosen a new superintendent, Dan Voce. Carlton’s Carman had been a candidate for the job, landing in a round of six candidates who were interviewed in mid-March.