The Marble Falls Independent School District Board of Trustees recently voted to pause construction on several projects related to the May 2025 bond during its regular meeting Oct. 20.
Those include the multi-purpose facility, new locker rooms at Max Copeland Gym, and the new baseball park.
The board took the vote on a motion by board member Kevin Virdell.
“I move that the board of trustees direct administration and legal counsel to work with Pfluger Architects to negotiate a partial de-scoping on bond projects including at least the CTE building and to renegotiate contract terms and fees as discussed in closed session and bring back options for the board to consider at the next meeting and direct Pfluger Architects to cease work on the baseball facility, CTE building, multipurpose building and the Max Copeland Gym project until the board can take further action.”
The motion was seconded by board secretary Crystal Tubig and carried unanimously.
Officials say the move was the culmination of work that began days earlier when the board met in a special meeting Oct. 16.
At that time, board members were told “the contractors’ price came in over budget” but took no action then, according to a press release by the school district. They – along with several Marble Falls ISD officials including Superintendent Jeff Gasaway, Assistant Superintendent Stan Whittle, athletic director Keri Timmerman and head coaches Tyler Porter of baseball and Alex Lozoya of softball – were all told of an inaccurate estimate.
According to the media release, board members were told the projected costs of these projects — that were put on web sites and told in gatherings to inform voters of the parts of the bond leading up to the May election — were not matching.
The individuals speaking were from Pfluger Architects, which was the firm that did the pre-bond work prior to the May 2025 election.
After voters approved the bond, the school district entered into another contract with Pfluger Architects for $3.275 million for “comprehensive architecture and engineering services for the softball field synthetic turf, new baseball field, multipurpose facility/auxiliary gym/weight room, Max Copeland Gym locker room additions and renovations, and CTE wing addition and renovations projects at Marble Falls High School.”
That contract was approved by the Marble Falls ISD school board May 19.
But during the special meeting Oct. 16, Pfluger representatives “accepted responsibility for the error and acknowledged that the architectural firm, not the (school) district, is responsible for the inaccurate estimate,” according to the press statement. (Find the full statement on Page 4).
A month earlier the board was presented with the sketches of what the new baseball park was going to look like complete with a new club house.
At that time, officials said they would present a guaranteed maximum price at the October regular meeting.
In the spring, the projected cost was $6.53 million for the new baseball park.
Instead of having a motion for a guaranteed maximum price, Payson announced the board was tabling the item regarding the baseball facility project until another time.
“So we’ll come back to that later but not tonight,” he said.
“Due to the fact of the price of what was proposed for the baseball facility exceeding the budget of what was allocated, the district has taken a pause to have our legal team work with Pfluger on options to bring strategies back to the board to address the fact that it is overpriced, that the amount in the original budget was not adequate,” Gasaway said.
The Oct. 20 meeting was supposed to be the next step in construction starting on athletic facilities that are part of the 2025 bond.
In the weeks leading up to Gasaway presenting a slide show to board members in January 2025 of what the bond entailed, officials had emphasized to Pfluger Architects “the importance of realistic budgeting, even noting a preference for estimates that leaned slightly higher rather than lower to avoid short falls. Despite those efforts the pre-bond cost estimates proved to be inaccurate.”
The board began the Oct. 20 meeting like most meetings – celebrating outstanding achievements by its educators and students.
Then members were asked to approve items that school districts everywhere must address.
Whittle walked up to the podium to present a guaranteed maximum price for upgrades to the softball facility at the high school campus called Scearce Softball Field.
The board chose to go into executive session before Whittle began.
Two hours later the board returned to open session where Whittle outlined the improvements to the softball facility that include removing the existing softball field surface and fencing, preparing the field for the new artificial turf from AstroTurf Diamond Professional “Legend” Series system, a detention pond for runoff water from the field, excavation and other work related items. Total cost is $1,060,617.
Before Payson asked what the board wanted to do, Trustee Kevin Naumann made a statement.
“I think I’m going to be a no on this vote, not because I don’t support the program or support the project but because of some other issues,” he said. “I think we should look at overall scope of all of these bond projects together, especially considering what I just heard. It sounds like we won’t be under budget on this project either.
“If you can account for the fencing and some of those other soft costs. So I’m going to be a no for this but I expect it to pass and I’ll be fine. But that’s my rationale.”
Virdell made the motion, which was seconded by board vice president Mandy McCary, and passed 6-1.
Work began on the softball field Oct. 21.
The final action taken by the board came on the second Virdell motion.
Many of the facilities for extracurricular activities are tied together. The Starlettes dance team and the Marble Falls High School cheerleaders were going to get the old high school band hall as their new studio.
The band was going to move into the old physical education gym, which the athletic department wasn’t going to need anymore because the multipurpose facility was going have to have a new gym.
So how will this pause affect those activities and renovations to those buildings?
“Great question,” Gasaway said. “The way that our 2025 bond came together, there are many projects that are tied to each other. And we definitely cannot start certain projects until others are completed or at least moving forward in a manner that we can be able to do the work that needs to be done on projects.
“And so I don’t know that this setback will delay that dramatically. We’ve had the baseball and softball as two of our top priorities and the multipurpose would be starting next,” he continued. “As we look at options, we will see how much it impacts the other projects, but our goal is still to have those done as quickly as we possibly can.”
The superintendent was emphatic when he said he, administration, other school district leaders, and board members intend to do their parts on getting these projects off the ground.
“(We’re) trying to have this move forward in a manner that delivers what we shared with the community,” Gasaway said. “Marble Falls ISD administration and school board are committed to delivering as much as we possibly can from the 2025 bond as what we shared with the community.
“It’s unfortunate that we’ve needed to pause our process related to the baseball field, but it will give us time to ensure that as we move forward with these athletic projects, that we’ll be able to do so in a manner that meets community expectations as well as working to deliver, within the budgetary constraints, the 2025 bond.”
