Last Thursday evening, the Quakertown Community School Board discussed and voted on two important items on its agenda.

            The multi-purpose athletic field was discussed at length before the board unanimously approved the contract to the lowest bidder.

            Installation and construction of the athletic field at the 6th-grade center was awarded to Skepton Construction, Inc. The company is located in Marlborough Township.  The cost of the project comes to approximately $5.1 million. The cost of lights to the field is an additional $660,000. The project has $774,000 in contingency funds. This covers the cost of the lighting with a modest financial cushion to cover unforeseen costs during the construction of the project.

            St. Lukes is a supporter of the school district and is donating $1.5 million for improvements. Part of those funds will go towards the purchase of a scoreboard for the new athletic field.

            Jaimie Lynch from D'Huy Engineering attended the meeting and answered questions from the board. He clarified inquiries about bleachers, lighting and other details related to the project. Board member Chris Spear asked questions that he received from residents.

            Member Ronald Jackson asked for clarity about the items included under the total cost of the project. The entire cost presented included general contracts, lights, state contracts, concession stand, and dugouts. It also included the scoreboard. However, in the future a change order will be drafted in order for St. Luke's to pay for that item.

            "This is the whole kit and caboodle. This is everything. This is the motion seconded and this is what's on the table," said Ron Jackson.

            As the discussion drew to a close, member Todd Hippauf said, "It's been nine years. A lot of blood sweat and tears… It's time. Let's vote on it and get it passed."

            Many parents and student-athletes attending the meeting were pleased with the outcome. 

            A motion to approve the updated 2023-2024 Upper Bucks County Technical School (UBCTS) budget passed unanimously with $800,704 offset put back into the budget for the sending districts of Palisades, Pennridge, and Quakertown. 

            The budget calls for $44k in capital projects.

            According to UBCTS past financial analysis, the technical school has underspent its expenditures as well as under-budgeted other revenues. This has led to surpluses for both the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 years.

            The 2022-2023 projection shows that the expenditures will be underspent again by approximately $612K.