SALISBURY — The Rowan-Salisbury School System Board of Education approved two roofing bids totaling more than $2 million for China Grove Elementary and South Rowan High School during its business meeting on Monday. 

“We have received $16 million from county commissioners to provide roofing replacement or roofing repairs in our district,” RSSS Chief Operations Officer Jamie Durant said on Monday.

Durant indicated that the district is advertising and working with the Charlotte-based engineering firm REI to assist in the design and the bid packets for the replacement projects. 

According to Durant, the China Grove Elementary School project returned 13 qualified bids, the lowest responsible of which was with Fort Mill, South Carolina based Rike Roofing Services for $866,077.

There were only two other bids for this roof replacement project that came in under the $1 million mark. 

South Rowan High School’s project is slightly different in scope as it has been doled out into multiple phases. The bid that Durant presented to the board on Monday was for phase two of the roof replacement. Durant said a third phase would be visited at a later date. 

Additionally, the material of South Rowan High School’s roof, which is metal, is different than that at China Grove Elementary School, which impacted the amount of bids that they received. 

“We received four qualified bids for the Phase II Metal Roof Retrofit replacement at South Rowan High School,” Durant said. “We had less qualified bids for this one because it’s a metal roof and there are less contractors out there that provide this.”

The bid from LaFave’s Construction Company, of Landis, was determined to be the lowest responsible bid at $1,326,000. LaFave’s Construction Company’s bid was significantly less than the next lowest bid by nearly $300,000. The other two bids submitted for the project exceeded $2 million. 

“(LaFave’s) is the same construction company that received the bid in the previous work I presented,” Durant said. 

Board Vice Chair Kathy McDuffie Sanborn made the motion to approve the contract with Rife Roofing Services for China Grove Elementary. Board member Lynn Marsh seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously. 

Sanborn also motioned to approve the contract at South Rowan High School with LaFave Construction Company. Board member Sabrina Harris seconded the motion. It also was approved unanimously. 

According to a memo to the school board, the funding for these projects will come from that $16 million that the Rowan County Board of Commissioners approved for the school system to address facilities in “desperate need” of repair or replacement. 

In both cases, the contracts that were approved indicated that time was of the essence to begin the work.