After some debate, the Carroll County Board of Education voted 6-1 Wednesday to accept the original construction bid of W.O. Kilgore Construction Co. - which contains a “mistake” that could cost the company nearly $35,000 - for multimillion-dollar additions to and modifications of Bowdon Elementary School.

W.O. Kilgore beat out fellow Carrollton company J & R Construction & Development Inc. and Atlanta-based Mooney Construction Inc. by placing the lowest bid of $4.52 million for the Bowdon Elementary projects. J & R wanted about $4.77 million, and Mooney wanted $4.99 million.

W.O. Kilgore entered a base bid of over $3.92 million and seven alternate bids, which totaled over $600,000, for electrical outlets, connecting corridors, replacing plumbing fixtures and gymnasium renovations. However, its bid price for the gym’s air conditioning system was substantially lower than its competitors - $37,361, to the other companies’ roughly $110,000.

Superintendent John Zauner told board members that a contractor from W.O. Kilgore came to him, saying that the company had made a mistake with its original bid and would like to add nearly $35,000 to the total costs for the gym’s air conditioning.

“They asked us about that,” Zauner said. “And I said, ‘Well, a bid is a bid.’ I did not give him permission (to change the bid), but said I needed to talk to the board about it. And as a board, we can either say ‘yes’ and accept that additional $35,000, or we can just say that we’ll take it as it is. It’s going to be covered one way or the other; it’s just how you want to do that kind of business.

“There’s nothing ugly here. It was just a mistake.”

Board member Bernice Brooks asked that if the board did accept the amended bid, would it set a precedent for future construction companies to come back and adjust their offers?

“And would this be grounds for rejection of this bid?” she asked.

Chief Finance Officer Greg Denney told Brooks and other members that the company has a right to say it made a mistake and wants to opt out of the contract, but the board has the right to accept the contract as it is written.

“Certainly, you don’t want contractors coming in bidding and then coming back and saying, ‘Oh, I made a mistake’ and want to add to the price,” Denney said.

“You can look at it and make a decision. Obviously, the guy made an error, and in this case, it just happened to be a relatively small error in relation to the price.”

Board member Bart Carter agreed with Brooks, saying that school board should accept the bid minus the extra $35,000.

“It’s nothing personal; it’s just business,” Carter said. “I feel we should just take what they gave us, and they’ll probably, in my opinion, either eat this (cost) or reject (the contract). But we shouldn’t set a precedent to allow people to change their bid after the fact.”

“You also want a good relationship with the people that you’re doing business with,” said board member Chris Gammon, arguing that if W.O. Kilgore ever had another construction project with Carroll County, it might increase its bid to cover the costs from this one.

“I think we need to get consistent when it comes to how we treat all

the contractors,” Carter said.

Ultimately, the original bid was accepted 6-1, with board member Donald Nixon dissenting, saying that the money for this project was left over from the 2003 SPLOST, which had promised to separate Mt. Zion High School and Mt. Zion Middle School, but did not.

“In 2003, (separating the two schools) just got bypassed,” said Nixon, who represents District 5. “Bowdon Elementary needs renovating, but our middle school and high school needed separating like other systems were. I felt that my people worked hard to pass the 2003 SPLOST, and the project was just abandoned.”

The renovations and additions to Bowdon Elementary were approved by Carroll County voters earlier this year in the 1 percent special purpose local option sales tax referendum. The project includes building a new media center and new administrative offices, renovating the kitchen and existing buildings, as well as converting some existing space to new classrooms and was projected to cost approximately $5.31 million.

Denney says that if the contract is accepted by W.O. Kilgore, construction should break ground within in two or three weeks and be completed within 390 days.

W.O. Kilgore did not respond to messages seeking comment as of press time.