The Design Committee recently scored the qualifications of three architectural firms. Two of those firms were interviewed by the board last night. EL Architects and DOWA-IBI made one-hour presentations each. Community members in attendance were asked for their opinions and input by the board. Following deliberation, DOWA-IBI was selected as the project architect. They have been working on ideas for the Design team to consider and presented over two dozen possible scenarios last night. The Design Committee will begin serious, on-going deliberations beginning in the next week or two. The preliminary schedule calls for schematic design to be completed by the end of April.
So much is happening behind the scenes this week. Our project manager, Doug Nichols, has been working to engage surveyors, geotechnical engineers, hazardous materials consultants and archeologists to do preliminary work on our site. We're digging into our archives to retrieve past reports that may save us some funds in this process. Surveyors are expected to be on site next week looking at topography and locating utilities. Archeologists are doing research to determine if an excavation is warranted. We're searching for any past studies that were done on the site to mitigate costs.
As I've said before, this is an aggressive schedule. We're moving quickly and working hard in order to receive our state matching (SCAP) funds in the 2019 fiscal year. If we miss the July disbursement, we'll need to wait until next July. Inflation on construction costs is about 6% per year. This is $1.5 million on a $25 million project. We'd like that $1.5 million to go to our school, not to inflated costs. Our budget will be very tight and we can't afford to lose any capacity.
If you would like to participate in the design of the new school and can commit approximately 8 hours per month to meetings through the end of October, 2019, please contact Dale Merten or me so that your name can be added to the group. This school will be built to last our community 50 years and design is a critical factor.
As always, if you have questions or concerns, I invite you to contact me.
