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WESLACO — The Weslaco Independent School District has started working on bond projects totaling $160 million by interviewing architectural and engineering firms for the first phase of the projects.
Holding workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday, the school board interviewed eight architectural firms and six engineering firms to assign for phase one bond projects.
In November, district voters passed Propositions A, B and C. Prop A asked for $140 million for construction, acquisition and equipment for district buildings and new school buses. Prop B and C each asked for $10 million for the construction, acquisition, rehabilitation, renovation and equipping of performing arts facilities and athletic facilities in the district.
Board president Jaclyn Sustaita said she is proud that district voters passed the propositions and puts trust in WISD to invest in their children.
“It speaks volumes of our community and how much we care about our kids,” Sustaita said. “We want to give them the best. Using taxpayer money and that the community trusts us as a board to take care of this for the kids, it’s amazing because to me it’s historical.
“We’ve never had this much to give to our kids and it’s an exciting feeling to see what can come ahead just by talking to these architects and engineers.”
Upon hearing five-minute presentations from each firm, showcasing their experience, strengths and previous work, board members then had the opportunity to ask the them questions for about 10 minutes.
Some of the questions asked regarded how much onsite management each firm takes when hired for a project, if the firm has been involved in any legal litigation over their projects and have they ever missed deadlines for projects in the past.
Board members then electronically ranked the firms to which specific project they think they are best for based on their qualifications.
Phase one bond projects included restroom and roofing upgrades, vestibules, field replacement, tennis court improvement, running tracks, lighting upgrades, fire alarm system upgrades and HVAC upgrades around the district.
Sustaita said the board usually has not held workshops like this in the past but wanted to keep a promise to the community to be as transparent as possible if the bonds passed.
“We want the community to listen to what’s going on because there’s always talk about compadrismo … And we try real hard to let the community know like, no, that’s not what it’s about … we want the community to know that we’re being honest and truthful and trying to be as transparent as possible with their money,” she said.
The board, with a ranking already in place, is set to vote on which firms will be hired for each project at the next regular school board meeting on Tuesday.
