Brighton Schools Hold Off Naming a Bond Construction Manager

Brighton Area Schools Board of Education members narrowed down the choice of construction management companies for from four to three during a special meeting Thursday night.

The board unanimously voted 5-0 to exclude Barton Malow of Southfield from further consideration for management services. The vote came not long after board members approved the company as project manager of the technology portion of the bond issue.

Board members will review the remaining three companies' contracts - Granger Construction Company of Lansing, George W. Auch Company of Pontiac and Clark Construction Company of Lansing - and come to a decision during another special meeting to be held sometime next week.

Trustee Bill Trombley was voluntarily absent from the meeting after because of his employment at Granger.

Each company was interviewed approximately 30 minutes by the Board of Education. Board members then rated each company in categories of experience, project approach, budget and project conduct.

Based on board members ratings, Auch received the highest ranking, followed by Clark, then Granger and Barton Malow.

Both Granger and Clark Construction Companies have teamed up with a local Brighton company to add a hometown flavor to their bids. Granger has partnered with Mike Corrigan and Corrigan Construction Company, while Clark has partnered with Jim Barnes of Contracting Resources.

Trustee Miles Vieau said he was surprised at how many of the companies were local and had employees living in the area.

Since the bids were in different forms, Assistant Superintendent of Finance Maria Gistinger suggested that board members postpone making a decision and take time to go over what was in each proposal.