Construction Manager Named for $7.9M Gilboa-Conesville Project

By Chris English

GILBOA-CONESVILLE — Preliminary work on a $7.9 million improvement project in the Gilboa-Conesville Central School District continues to progress.

At its Wednesday, March 19 meeting, the school board approved C & S Engineers, Inc. as the construction management firm for the project that hopefully will go out to bid in December and start in February of 2026.

Among the firm's duties, according to documents, will be to "collaborate with the project architect, provide construction planning, prepare and update as needed a project schedule, assist with bid solicitation and analysis, coordinate activities of contractors and provide project status reports."

Gilboa-Conesville Superintendent Bonnie Johnson said formal contracts for C & S and the project architect, Hunt, will be considered by the board as its April meeting if all of the documents are finalized.

In other actions from the March 19 meeting, the board approved a four-year agreement with Bonadio & Co. LLC to conduct the yearly extra classroom activity audit, the single audit program and all other funds/accounts audits. The costs will be $29,100 in 2025-26; $30,250 in 2026-27; $31,400 in 2027-28 and $32,600 in 2028-29.

Johnson reported that some ways to cooperate and share services are being explored with the neighboring Roxbury School District. She said a study is being done on merging transportation services with Roxbury.

"There is no talk of a shared superintendent," Johnson wrote in an email to this newspaper. The nearby Jefferson and South Kortright School Districts recently agreed to share a superintendent on a trial basis for several months.

The GC board approved a 2025-26 budget of $4.27 million for the Otsego Northern Catskills BOCES and also Gilboa-Conesville's share of $141,044, a 5.86 percent increase from this school year. Gilboa-Conesville is one of 19 school districts that send students to this BOCES.

Also approved by the GC board was a slate of four candidates running for the BOCES school board. They are Jacquelyn McGuire of Gilboa-Conesville, Colin Miller of South Kortright, Timothy Powell of Stamford and Bobbi Schmitt of Hunter-Tannersville.

"The BOCES BOE members are voted on by all 19 component districts," Johnson wrote in the email. "There were four seats open and four candidates running."

All eligible voters in the Gilboa-Conesville District will be able to vote yes or no on the 2025-26 school budget from noon to 8 p.m. May 20 at the school, 132 Wyckoff Road, Gilboa. Also on the ballot that day is one GC school board seat that carries a five-year term. It's currently held by Stephanie Bruck, and she is running to keep it.

Before the May 20 vote, the board will hold a public budget hearing to present the 2025-26 budget. It will be at 6 p.m. May 6 at the school.

Donations were accepted at the March 19 meeting for the Oct. 3 Career Fair. There were three donations totaling $1,200, with Preville Technology pitching in $600, Day Automation $500 and Waste Recovery $100.