Kingfisher Public Schools had sticker shock last week when bids were opened for the new cheer and softball facility.

The good kind of shock, that is.

Bids came in at about half the projections and on Monday the board of education approved the lowest one from Jenco Construction of Oklahoma City.

Jenco’s bid was $963,600, which was $3,400 less than the next lowest bidder, Lambert Construction.

With architect’s and other fees added in, the total cost will be $1,030,410.

Ten bid packets were requested and nine were turned in.

“That’s the most I’ve ever had for a project,” noted Superintendent Jason Sternberger to the board.

The guaranteed maximum price offered up by the architect when the project began was $1.8 million.

The highest bid was $1.188 million, well under the guaranteed max.

Several factors, including a dropping price of steel, led to the cost of the project to drop.

“The bids were…very ‘tight,’ indicating the bidders understood the documents and the bids accurately reflect the bid market,” said Jeffrey A. Wegener, a principal with LWPB Architecture, which designed the building, in a letter recommending the board accept the low bid.

Wegener said his firm “has worked successfully with Jenco,” most recently on a $1.45 million renovation project at Edmond North High School.

He noted another $858,000 renovation project at Edmond North.

“Both projects were completed on time and within available funds,” Wegener said.

Jenco provided Stern-berger with a list of current projects and projects completed within five years.

Several of them included school districts, nine of them being for Edmond schools since 2015.

The low bid also allowed KPS to avoid financing the project.

The board voted to pay for the building outright rather than finance it through a lease-purchase agreement.

“I feel very comfortable in recommending purchasing it outright and just moving on,” Sternberger said. “It will save us on financing.”

Sternberger provided board members with several figures, most notably the one that states the district currently has $1.3 million in its building fund.

Paying for the building would still leave KPS with about $200,000 in reserve.

“And we don’t have any other big projects coming up,” he said. “I remember many years with $200,000 in our building fund. If other things come up, we can handle it with our general fund.”

Construction is expected to begin in early July. If weather cooperates, the building could be ready sometime in November or December, Sternberger said.

Board members approved all moves unanimously.

Those members had a new face in the crowd as Charles Walker took the oath of office.

Walker won an election last week over Servrina Prim to replace Mark Squires, who chose not to run for re-election.

After Walker was sworn in, the board reorganized as Carly Franks was voted in as president, Mike Copeland as vice president and Walker as clerk. Dana Golbek and Jim Perdue are the other two members.

Board members also accepted two faculty resignations.

Stacie Evans is stepping down as a sophomore English teacher and academic team coach. She recently accepted an offer to become the K-12 counselor for Calumet Public Schools.

Also resigning is Maranda Janz, who has been a seventh grade geography teacher as well as middle school girls basketball, softball and track coach for two years. In her letter, Janz said she was recently engaged and desired to move and teach closer to her fiance’s job location.