ABOVE: The tennis courts at Fairmont High School. The courts will have work done on them this summer and the school board approved of the bid for it at its meeting this week.

FAIRMONT – The Fairmont School Board got some good news Tuesday night as the best bid for this summer’s tennis court mill and overlay project came in under the projected figure.

The engineer’s estimate came in at $372,930. The lowest bid, from WW Blacktopping, came in at $289,753. However, not all of the specifications recommended for the bid by solicitor ISG Inc. were followed, so it could not be accepted. Nielsen Blacktopping and Concrete did submit the specifications, and their bid came in at $359,000, a savings of more than $13,000.

Overall there were five bids, as M.R. Paving and Excavating, Ulland Brothers and Duininck also submitted proposals.

Superintendent Andy Traetow clarified that this project is covered by their long-term facilities maintenance plan (LTFM).

“That funding, it’s been planned for and allocated over the last several years, knowing this was coming in our LTFM plan and part of the 10-year plan that you approved,” he said to the board.

Board Member Dan Brookens said a rare feat was achieved with this project.

“We’ve looked at this project several times before, and I believe this is a rare example of price actually going down from some of the things we had,” he said. “It seemed like there was a backlog of projects after COVID, and prices were very high. There weren’t a lot of contractors available. It’s great to see this many bids, and the price is much better than the ones we looked at in preceding years.”

Since it is a mill and overlay project, Traetow said it is not a complete tear-out of the tennis courts.

“They’re going to do some structural concrete work to minimize the shifting and hopefully the cracks and gaps that form,” he said.

In addition to this, the bidding process took some time to look at other prospects as well.

“Part of it though, we did ask for research and a potential bid alternate for the addition of pickleball courts as that activity takes off,” Traetow said. “That [price] would have exceeded the totality of this project [price] here.”

As such, and since that type of court does not fall under the LTFM, Traetow said they would not be pursuing that at this time, but it is something to keep in mind moving forward.

The bid for Nielson Blacktopping and Concrete at $359,000 was approved unanimously by the board.

In other news:

— The school district has gotten the ball rolling on a Cardiac Emergency Response Plan, which is due to the state of Minnesota by August as part of the state’s required implementation. School district representatives met with the school’s environmental, health, and safety consultant last week. They worked on identifying team members for the projects and constructing plan components.

— The proposal submitted by CliftonLarsonAllen for audit services in 2026, including a financial statement audit, technology support and a program audit for a total cost of $31,763, was approved. Finance and Business Management Director Jessica Korte confirmed that this is another area where Fairmont will be able to save money, approximately $12,500, compared to what the school district did last year.