Work is about to begin on Fulton's school building

After several years of planning and hoping, progress on the repairs for the Fulton Middle and High School is about to come to a head.

The school building, which was built in 1917 and officially closed its doors more than 40 years ago, has been in need of repairs for the roof, ceiling tiles, and flooring for some time, Mary "Sug" Beckford has said.

Beckford is the former secretary of the Fulton Community Center and current board member and secretary of the Osaga Historical Society.

Bids for construction have come in for the repairs to the school building. Two contractors to complete the work have been selected.

Ryan Collier, NC Foam, LLC., submitted a bid of $13,526 to complete the roof work. Pete Owenby submitted a bid of $5,860 to complete the interior repairs.

The other submitted bids were $15,275 from Paul Lewis in Pleasanton and $19,250 from Boren Roofing in Iola.

Collier and Owenby were chosen for two primary reasons, Kathy Talbot said. She said the decision was based on price point and the type of work and product he has to offer, she said.

Talbot, who put in most of the effort into the application to get the grant, is the secretary and treasurer for the community center, Osaga Historical Society Vice President Virginia Durbin said.

"Pete has a good reputation and Virginia and I met with him and he talked about the way he was going to do things and we liked the way he described his work process," she said. "With Ryan, we liked the foam better than the asphalt and also, of course, the price. You go back with that asphalt and you're adding all that weight to the building and this is lightweight. We just think it's a better product."

Talbot also said the foam roofing is less expensive than standard roofing products and will cut down on the cost of utilities for heating and A/C.

Currently, the contractor bids are being reviewed by the Kansas State Historical Society. Construction on the building cannot begin until the bids are approved as the grant will pay for the majority of the work.

Pending approval of the bids, the project will officially begin, Talbot and Durbin said.

"As soon as they're okayed, they're going to start," Durbin said.

"Both contractors have indicated that they could get us on their schedule in about three weeks," Talbot said.

Talbot said ideally the repairs will be at least partially completed in time for the school's alumni banquet at the end of May.

"We would like to have some of it completed, at least the inside gym part," she said. "Pete has told us he'd try to get that done for us if we can get everything approved, we just have to wait on approval and documentation."

The process to have repair work completed on the Fulton Middle and High School has been long. The wait, however, has been worth it, Talbot said.

"It's long overdue. It's been an ongoing process, but until we got the grant there's just never been a lot of money," she said. "We're just so thankful to have the grant we'll wait if we have to."

The building is a combination of a gymnasium, cafeteria, and schoolhouse with three separate roofs.

In addition to the leaky roofs, ceiling tiles on the second floor, as well as some of the flooring, also need replaced.

To help cover the costs for the repairs, members of the Community Center and the Osaga Historical Society worked together to apply for a Heritage Trust Fund Grant. The grant, totaling about $23,000, was awarded in February.

To be awarded the grant, the school had to be on the Register of Historic Kansas Places. After applying for the registry, and after a unanimous vote by the Kansas Historic Sites Board of Review, the school building was added to the list in August.

To hold off damage until the grant was awarded, repairs were made on the gym and cafeteria roofs during the winter, Beckford said in late March.