Board of Education purchases land, extends superintendent contract
The Vestavia Hills Board of Education on Monday, March 18, approved the purchase of a nearly two-acre land parcel on Gresham Drive that will become part of the new Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge campus.
The board is buying the land at 2645 Gresham Drive from Florence Thompson, who has owned it since 1958. The address sits in Jefferson County, so the Vestavia Hills City Council must vote to annex and rezone it for school use.
The acquired land is being considered as the site of a new parking lot at the elementary school. On Monday, the board also approved a contract for $1,047,000 with Nearen Construction Company, LLC to build a carpool loop with parking spaces at the Dolly Ridge campus.
The contract specifies a completion date of July 31, 2019.
The board also approved a one-year contract extension for Superintendent Todd Freeman. He signed a three-year contract in 2018 that was set to expire in 2021, but Board President David Powell said board members have been impressed by Freeman’s job performance and want to reward him.
“Publicly, we want to say that we appreciate you, and you’re doing a great job,” Powell told Freeman during the meeting. “We feel that you’re leading us well and that we have strong levels of direction and transparency and all those things.”
In other business, the board:
- Approved an owner/architect agreement with Lathan Associates Architects, P.C. in the amount of $2.8 million for the new softball and baseball complex at Berry High School.
- Approved a change order for about $201,000 with Blalock Building for a building addition and renovations at Berry.
- Approved a contract with J.A. Dawson & Co., Inc. for about $177,000 to build a playground at Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge.
- Approved a contract for about $135,000 with Williford Orman Construction, LLC to add a ramp to the visitor side bleachers at Vestavia Hills High School to make them wheelchair accessible.
- Amended the contract between the city and Specialty Turf Supply, Inc. for lawn maintenance services through Sept. 30, 2020.
- Approved personnel transfer among schools to ensure sufficient staffing levels for the 2019-20 school year.