At the Brighton Board of Education meeting Monday night, the board awarded several contracts in connection with the $59.4 million bond issue passed by the voters last November. The construction manager contract was awarded to the Clark Construction Co. of Lansing, the architectural and engineering services contract to Integrated Designs Inc. of Marquette and Brighton, the technology design management services contract to Barton Malow of Detroit and the interior and furniture design contract to T-Squared Designs of Brighton. Superintendent Greg Gray tells WHMI that they try to award contracts to local firms whenever possible.

In November, Brighton area voters passed a $59.4 million bond issue for various improvements in the Brighton Area Schools. Plans are to get the two largest construction components of the bond issue – the multipurpose facility and the STEAM center, underway by this coming fall. Gray says hopefully, they will be completed in time for the 2021-22 school year. The 20,000-foot STEAM center is planned as an addition to Brighton High School, while STEAM enhancements are planned for all other schools in the district. STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics.

A multipurpose facility is also in the works, to be utilized by all district schools and the community at large when not in use by the school district. Parking lot repaving, new boilers, and for the high school, replacement of ceiling tile, partial roof replacement and new corridor flooring are among the improvements planned. And the district says property tax rates will not rise as a result of the bond issue. (TT)