Hamilton County officials justified going $3 million over estimates to build the much-anticipated new Ganns Middle Valley Elementary School because of their self-imposed deadline of opening the facility by the fall of 2016.
“We didn’t want to disrupt the children trying to learn,” County Mayor Jim Coppinger told county commissioners Wednesday. “We can’t open midyear. If there ever was a case to accelerate the bid, I would say this is it.”
Despite several commissioners’ concerns with the $29 million price tag to demolish Ganns Middle Valley and Falling Water elementaries and build a combined school for nearly 1,000 students, they voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve the contract.
Chattanooga-based J&J Contractors had the lowest bid, at $28 million, but officials said the company indicated that it couldn’t have the school built by the July 25, 2016 deadline. Instead, officials chose Rentenbach Constructors, tacking on more than $1 million for overtime.
Hixson parents lobbied the county for years to replace the 77-year-old building Ganns Middle Valley, with its leaking ceilings and mold and dust in classrooms that forced some children to bring inhalers to school. And Falling WaterElementary is more than a century old.