Uintah School District announced Friday that the district’s purchase of the BHI building and property in Naples is complete. According to the announcement, the district purchased 26,668 square feet of offices, meeting rooms and storage space; 28,875 square feet of heated indoor bus storage; additional shop space for district vehicles; and 11 acres of property for $9,794,780 dollars which came from the district’s Capital Outlay Fund. “We know this is a lot of money,” Uintah School Board President Dave Chivers said, “but instead of buying ground and building a new district office, transportation office and bus garage, we were able to find a facility that will meet our district’s needs for many years to come while saving taxpayers money. It’s a good thing.” The district’s existing transportation facility was built in 1955. The existing district office was built in 1978. Both buildings have a number of issues commonly associated with aging facilities that made it cost prohibitive to renovate or remodel the existing structures. New construction of both facilities would have cost taxpayers a combined $14,359,550 dollars, according to an estimate provided to the district by an architectural firm. The estimate, provided in March 2019, did not include the cost of purchasing property for the new facilities. It also does not account for recent increases in construction costs…The new district office includes a boardroom for Uintah School Board meetings, training rooms, and office space. The new bus garage includes a 6,240-square-foot shop and 28,875 square feet of heated indoor bus storage…There is an additional 8,000 square feet of open, covered bus storage on site as well. District office staff and transportation office staff will relocate to the new facility during the summer.
