PLACENTIA : Contract for School Pool Job Awarded

Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District trustees this week awarded a $93,000 contract to renovate the pool at Esperanza High School.

The board members Tuesday voted unanimously to award the contract to Paddock Pools Inc., which has installed pools in Saddleback Valley, Oakland and Jurupa school districts. Paddock Pools submitted the lowest proposal among six bidders.

Last summer, school administrators had attempted, by declaring the need for the renovation an emergency, to award the contract to another company without going through a competitive bid process. School officials said that water-related sports teams would need it at the start of the school year and that they had called several pool companies for price quotes. The contract was to have been awarded to De Mar Baron, a pool company that would have done the work for $143,000.

Trustee Barbara Williams opposed the emergency designation, and the district then went through the normal competitive bidding process. For a measure to be declared an emergency requires the unanimous vote of the school board.

Williams noted that going through the competitive bid process saved the district an extra $50,000 in redevelopment money it receives from the city of Anaheim, which will pay for the pool project.

The renovation is expected to take about 30 days to complete. The job will include replastering the entire pool surface and installing a new filtration system. Esperanza students in water-related sports now must travel to other high schools in the district for practices and games.