SIMI VALLEY : Contract Awarded to Rebuild Warehouse
Simi Valley school officials Tuesday awarded a $819,000 contract to a Thousand Oaks construction company to rebuild a warehouse that was destroyed in a fire last year.
Work by Burns-Pacific Construction could begin today, said Mary Beth Wolford, an assistant superintendent for the Simi Valley Unified School District.
“We’re trying to get it built in 90 days,” Wolford said. “I’d like to be in by Aug. 15 so we could be ready for the beginning of the school year. It will really be hectic.”
Textbooks, supplies, classroom films and school records dating back to 1890 were destroyed in the Nov. 28 warehouse blaze. Fire investigators said the $4-million fire started in the ceiling as a result of warmth from either a heater or a fluorescent light.
The warehouse will be rebuilt in the same location, next to the district headquarters on Cochran Street. A few minor changes will be made, such as accommodating the district’s print shop and purchasing department in the building, officials said.
Since December, the district has been leasing a building near its headquarters for $6,700 a month.
In other business, Unisys Corp. of Los Angeles was awarded a $697,357 contract for a computer that will handle student, personnel and financial records. In addition, the district will buy a five-year maintenance contract for $258,432 from the company.
The equipment will replace the district’s mainframe computer, housed at district headquarters, as part of a districtwide computer updating program.
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