It was a late night at the Warren City School Administration Building, Thursday, as three general contracting firms made their pitches for construction of a recreation and wellness center to the district's athletic council.
The Wellness Center will be located on the Warren G. Harding High School campus and is being built for both students and the rest of the community.
Steve Chiaro, superintendent of Warren City Schools, said while many of the details are sparse, one thing for certain is the facility will have 2,000 square feet set aside for a local health partner. It hasn't yet been determined who that partner will be.
He said the space could be use for anything from a minute health clinic, to space for rotating physicians or an urgent care.
"Wellness can mean a lot of things, athletically, academically, mentally," Warren City Schools Director of Business John Lacy, said.
He said another exciting aspect of this project is that it will be at zero cost to city of Warren tax payers.
But Chiaro said residents shouldn't expect to pay for the facility, even after it is built.
"We also have contingency in place, that funding should not be any kind of issue or concern for the taxpayer," Chiaro said. "For the operations of the facility or for the maintenance of it."
A big reason for that, Chiaro said, is because of a good track record over these last couple of years for the school district, when it comes to balancing its budget. It now has funds that were set aside for capital improvements to use for the project.
Lacy said the school district applied for a more ARP funding recently, to garner additional funding.
The new facility is something many residents have had their eye on for years, Chiaro said.
Chiaro also says he believes this is the most ambitious and exciting project that has been undertaken by the city since the construction of Warren G. Harding High School 15 years ago.
The athletic council heard from Coates Construction, DeSalvo Construction and Albert M. Higley Company during the meeting.
Chiaro said the athletic council will choose one of the contractors and make a recommendation to the Warren Board of Education, at which point that chosen contractor will present to the board.
That's expected to happen Tuesday, Dec. 7, Chiaros said, in which case he'll call for a special Board of Education meeting.
He said groundbreaking for the facility is slated for anywhere from March 2022 through June 2022.