FAIRMONT– With three bids received for the upcoming roofing project across both school buildings, the Fairmont School Board approved a $602,570 bid from Schwickert’s Tecta America in Mankato at their meeting on Tuesday.

This beat out a $615,500 bid from Granite City Roofing out of Sauk Rapids and $814,100 from McDowell Company and Waite Park. These bids are all smaller than their base bids, as the school board decided to save costs by doing a fully adhered ketone ethylene ester (KEE) Fleeceback roof.

Finance and Business Management Director Jessica Korte said the winning bid is in the amount they were expecting.

“When the board approved the programs and issued those bonds, it came within budget of what we were expecting,” she said.

There were no companies from the Fairmont area that submitted bids. Korte said they got the word out, including through several newspapers such as the Sentinel.

“We definitely are open and would like local companies to apply if they can,” she said.

With the winning bid being the closest of the three companies, Korte said it is a nice bonus to have.

“Even if they are from far away, they somehow make it work,” she said. “They are working similar hours just to get the roofing projects done. It’s always good to have as many local companies as possible working on projects.”

The project is currently planned to occur in the summers of 2026 and 2027.

Board Member Mari Myren motioned to approve the selection of Schwickert’s Tecta America as the contractor for the high school’s roof improvements. After board member Shayna Wolfe seconded the motion, it passed unanimously.

In other news:

— Superintendent Andy Traetow said there has been some confusion as to the levy approved last month and the rate of increase following the failed referendum vote. Traetow said the ability of school boards to vote on and include health and safety projects such as roofing, HVAC and fire projects in the levy directly was passed by the state in the spring of 2025. As such, related projects were sent to and approved by the Minnesota Department of Education, and with the tax levy approval, go forward separately from the referendum. “While they were related to doing work on our buildings, they were separate in their scope,” he said. “As a school board, you do have authority to levy for health and safety projects, and the things we had to go ask the voters for support on were separate.”

— The board approved a phased retirement for Fairmont Schools Information Systems Manager Lee Stewart. Traetow said he will be working two days a week, and while he’s not certain Stewart won’t pop up from time to time to check in on things, he has earned his retirement. “Gracious for his service to the district,” Traetow said. “Grateful for the support from you as a school board for supporting the transition plan that dated back to this fall to get things in place to make sure our information technology systems continue to move forward seamlessly.” Currently, the plan is for current IT Support Specialist James McAdams to take over when the transition occurs.

— Traetow said there was a recent fire marshal visit. He and Building and Grounds Director Tyler Garrison discussed it, with Garrison reporting only a few minor things to repair.