The Tamaqua Area School Board on Tuesday began talking about paving the parking lots around the high school and middle school.

The district received a proposal from the Gordian Group, the firm that is replacing the front doors at the senior high school.

Ken Dunkelberger, chief operations officer, explained that they had the firm look at the parking lots while they were on site with the doors.

“It’s no surprise the high school parking lot is in terrible shape,” he said, noting that it may be the original paving from 1968, and the paving around the middle school is about 20 years old and also needing care.

Gordian divided the areas around the schools into six separate sections in its proposal, starting at the flagpole and moving around the building, Dunkelberger showed the board highlighting each area on an aerial photo.

“Tonight’s presentation is to show you what they have looked at and what they said, and then we’ll go from there as far as the next steps,” Superintendent Ray Kinder said.

The administration wasn’t looking for a vote on the proposal, but hoping to get feedback from the board, he said. Gordian is part of KPN, which is like using a state or federal contract, Kinder explained.

Board member Trina Schellhammer asked if they would be seeking bids for the contract, so they could see other pricing. Dunkelberger said the plan was to put the project on the table for discussion.

Kinder said they have with other similar state contracts sought information from other vendors to see how they compare, and these fixed contracts sometimes work out better for the district when all factors are considered.

But the district would check pricing with other vendors before bringing a proposal to the board for a vote, Kinder said. This would give the district a base price to work from, he said.

“We find out that this is $10 million. We know we’re getting out the fill and fixing the potholes ourselves,” Kinder said.

The district is bringing this to the board early, because there continues to be issues with securing vendors, Dunkelberger said. The district would be looking to start in late spring or early summer, Kinder said.

Gordian proposed milling, base replacement as need and placing up to 4 inches of new material down, Dunkelberger said.

Board President Larry Wittig said he recently had a driveway done with 3 inches of material, and it cost $26,000 six months ago. Dunkelberger said the district would be paying prevailing wage.

The board did not discuss any pricing or costs associated with Gordian’s proposal.