A screen shot of the video presentation of the new Hartselle High School. To see the video, see www.hartselletigers.org.

First phase site preparation work for the new Hartselle High School is expected to begin this week under contract with Baggett Construction Co. of Decatur.
Baggett’s low bid of $1.47 million was approved by Hartselle School board Tuesday morning.
Seven other bids were submitted, the highest of which was $4.23 million.
“We’re well pleased with the bids and excited about getting the project under construction,” Hartselle School District Superintendent Dr. Mike Reed said. “The low bid is well within the amount we had budgeted.”
Project Manager Brian Moore said he expects the contractor to have equipment and operators on the job immediately.
“The ground is dry and that’s a plus when you’re moving dirt,” he said. “Hopefully, the weather will hold long enough for them to get the bad dirt out and the structural fill dirt back in on the building pad before winter weather moves in.”
The bulk of the grading and dirt moving will be focused on getting the building pad ready for the building construction phase and building the base for parking lots and access roads.  Rough grading will be done on areas that will become ball fields and a minimum amount will occur on the site’s approximately seven acres of wetlands, he said.
The contract will be for 120 calendar days.
Moore said initially Bethel Road would be used as the entry point for heavy equipment. After that Roan Road will be used mainly to shuttle trucks and other equipment to and from the site.
“There’s going to be a lot of activity taking place out there for the next several weeks, Moore stated. “It will be obvious to people in the neighborhood as well as motorist s, especially on Highway 36. We’ll work hard to keep the inconvenience to the public at a minimum.”
Bids are expected to be let on the building project ands a second site prep phase early next year.
Board chairwoman Jennifer Sittason said a video of the new high school’s exterior may be seen on the hartselletigers.com web site.
“We’ll be adding progress photos and information as they occur,” she said.