School board addresses cost overruns for Lawrence Elementary well project

Sussex. The Sussex-Wantage Regional School District Board of Education on June 10 approved two resolutions to address cost overruns on the district’s well improvement project at the Clifton E. Lawrence Elementary school.

The school board authorized the withdrawal of $466,000 from the district’s Capital Reserve fund for the 2020-21 school year for the balance of the project, which is over-budget due to pandemic-related cost increases. The Board of Education also awarded the Water Well Improvements to Wallkill Group, Inc. for $966,000 for the base bid.

District Business Administrator Christina Riker said construction prices have skyrocketed due to the pandemic and she discussed several options, including rebidding the project with the district’s auditor and Sussex County Executive Superintendent Gayle Carrick.

“There was no guarantee when we rebid that prices won’t be even higher,” Riker said.

She also asked them about the possibility of withdrawing the money from the district’s Capital Reserve fund so the district could move forward with the project.

“I got the blessing from both of them,” Riker said.

The scope of this project includes, but is not limited to, the drilling of a new well and the replacement and relocation of existing pumps, tanks, and chlorination system associated with the underground water well to a new one-story structure.