The Tamaqua Area School Board on Tuesday gave the administration the OK to move ahead with plans for improvements at the stadium.

The board approved the administration seeking requests for proposals for an architect to draft plans for a new pole building and concession stand.

Plans for a new pole building and concession stand have been discussed previously, and even put out to bid unsuccessfully earlier this year with the costs coming in much higher than expected.

Back in March, the lowest bid on the concession stand was $192,370, and the low base bid on the larger pole building was $212,292.

Zawada Enterprises had the low bid on the concession stand, and the other bids were from Kobalt Construction, $494,162, and $479,162 with a flat roof; and L&K Construction, $212,000 and $207,000 with a flat roof alternative.

The low bid on the pole building of $212,292 came from Dutchman Contracting, and alternate for a concrete floor to the bid to $272,572.

Another bid came from Kobalt Construction at $556,790, base bid, and $613,790 with the alternate for the floor.

The district accepted but did not open a third bid on the pole buildings from Zawada Enterprises on the advice of its solicitor, because the bid arrived late.

The board planned on quickly revising and rebidding the project, but then decided in April to delay the project to allow more time to find an option that best suits the district in the long run.

The administration hopes using an architect to prepare the specifications will eliminate numerous questions from contractors on the plans and keep the costs down.

The district already undertook some of the preparation work, specifically completing the pad for the new concession stand, to save money.

Superintendent Ray Kinder suggested that when they are ready to go out for bid, once an architect is selected and plans prepared, that they bid the pole building and concession stand together, and also separately.

The district wants to take down an existing pole building and the concession stand at the stadium and build a larger pole building to accommodate growing storage needs.

A new concession stand will be placed on the pad the district prepared.