Marble Falls ISD makes agreement with Huckabee and Associates, Inc. official

The Marble Falls Independent School District Board of Trustees delegated authority to Superintendent Dr. Jeff Gasaway “to enter into the contract” with Huckabee and Associates, Inc. as the next architects of the May 2025 bond projects during a special meeting Dec. 8.

The board had selected the firm as the new architects of record during its regular Nov. 20 meeting.

Huckabee and Associates, Inc. has worked with the school district before on the 2018 bond projects. Fees paid to Huckabee and Associates, Inc. for design work are capped at 6.5 percent per project, Gasaway said.

He, administrators and Huckabee representatives feel “confident” the budgets for each of the 2025 projects will be kept.

Renderings of some projects, such as the new baseball park, were completed already by Pfluger Architects.

“They were able to demonstrate those portions of the project would be at a reduced rate,” the superintendent said. “Baseball was pretty much finished.”

Other projects, including the new multipurpose facility and the boys and girls locker rooms at Max Copeland Gym, “weren’t near as far along,” the superintendent said.

Marble Falls ISD leaders had projected the baseball park would be entering its second month of construction of the new baseball park by now. Instead, they have spent the last two months trying to get the projects back on track after it was discovered that “the contractors’ price came in over budget” during a special meeting Oct. 16. Though the board didn’t take action then, board members voted to “pause construction” on the multipurpose facility, new locker rooms at Max Copeland Gym, and the new baseball park during the regular meeting Oct. 20.

Then during the board’s regular meeting Nov. 17, members voted “to terminate the architect contract with Pfluger Architects, Inc., for the May 2025 bond projects.”

At that time the board selected Huckabee and Associates, Inc. as the new architect of record for the baseball, multipurpose, Max Copeland Gym locker rooms, Career and Technical Education expansion, the high school auditorium renovation, and other May 2025 bond projects and asked Gasaway to negotiate a fair and reasonable price and bring the contract back for consideration.

The Dec. 8 meeting was the culmination of that work.

Now officials can get back to what the bond is all about – getting construction going on these projects.

With after-school practices for baseball starting Jan. 16, the Mustangs will continue to play at their current facility – Sceare Field. Therefore construction won’t begin until the spring semester, around February 2025.

The new park, which was budgeted at $6.53 million, is projected to be ready August 2026.

The other part is that officials and architects are committed to building the new baseball park to serve the needs of the Mustangs, Gasaway said.

“They’re looking for ideas to get us into projections as much as possible,” he said. “They’re looking for creative ideas to be as close to budget as possible and keep those overarching themes. We’ll have it all done and ready by the time school starts. We want to get it done as quickly as possible.”

Another project is the multipurpose facility that will have an indoor practice field for outdoor sports, a gym and a state-of-the art weight room for use by the Mustangs and Lady Mustangs. Officials still want to construct that facility on top of the current baseball park. Projected cost is $26,050,000.

Construction on this facility can’t begin until the Mustangs complete their baseball season, which could be as early as April or as late as June 5 if the Mustangs can qualify for the Class 4A Division I state championship.

Officials are projecting the multipurpose facility to be ready for use in August or September 2027.

“The multipurpose is a 14-to-15 month process,” the superintendent said. “We wouldn’t be able to start that until baseball has their facility.”

While Gasaway didn’t give a projected date of completion for the new locker rooms at Max Copeland Gym, which will be constructed in the grassy area between the old field house and the gymnasium, he did indicate it’s thought of as a project that won’t take months to finish. Projected cost is $3 million.

“It would not surprise me if we knock that out pretty quickly with minimal disruption,” he said.

The bond also called for the renovation of the old Physical Education gym to become the new band hall and turning the current band hall into a studio for the Starlettes and cheerleaders. Projected cost for the new band hall is $8.3 million and projected cost for the studio is $2.6 million.

Gasaway noted these projects are all tied together because one can’t be built until some of the others are completed.

“They’re like dominoes,” he said. “They have the potential to bring down the entire group. We have a plan, and we want to execute that plan. (Dec. 9) was definitely a step in the right direction to get us back on track.”

The projected cost of the Career and Technology expansion is projected to cost $15 million and the renovation of the Marble Falls High School Auditorium is projected to cost $5 million.