Seeking Bids
Bids for rebuilding the historic barracks at Fort Hancock for an NJROTC classroom and indoor unit formation hall will go out within two months, Dr. Charles Ford told the 21st Century Fort Hancock Advisory Commission at its meeting Thursday.
Dr. Ford is the superintendent of the Monmouth Ocean Vocational Technical School District, of which MAST, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology which is located on Sandy Hook is one of the five high schools in the program. Every student at MAST is also a member of the NJROTC as a requirement for graduation from MAST, one of few schools in the nation devoted to a Navy Junior ROTC program.
Dr. Clark’s announcement to the advisory commission of the National Park Service came a day after Commander Tracie Smith-Yeoman United States Navy (ret), Senior Naval officer at MAST, announced the news of seeking bids at the annual Naval Inspection of the NJROTC cadets who attend MAST, the largest and most important military inspection the young cadets face during the year.
The commander’s announcement, part of her welcome address when she told the crowd of more than 700 visitors reasons why she was so happy that day, was met with great applause from the audience, huddled under blankets on lawn chairs and bleachers for the early morning Pass in Review part of the annual inspection.
Dr. Ford was first on the agenda of the five-hour Advisory Committee meeting, preset at the virtual session to give an update on the construction and rehabilitation of two buildings leased to Monmouth County for the school, recognized as one of the top ten in the state for academic excellence.
Appearing at the virtual meeting with the board’s business administrator Kelly Brazelton, who appeared from Florida where she is vacationing, Dr. Ford said Covid’s impact on slowing down supply delivery and the increase in costs in all areas which is said are now “pricey” has required revisions for architectural work which now has to be updated and reviewed. Once that review is completed, the superintendent said, he is hopeful the board can then go out for the bids. “It all depends on the process,” he said.
Dr. Ford was praised by the Committee for the completion and ribbon cutting ceremony for the first of two new buildings MAST is leasing at Fort Hancock. The school has been operating in 11 other leased buildings since it first opened and leased the two additional buildings a few years ago and appropriated $15 million in funds for the needed extensive rehabilitation before they could be operational.
The first building, Building 56, a former mess hall and a considerably smaller two-story building was completed earlier this year and is currently in use by MAST while still undergoing contractual work in the cellar. It houses the estimated $1 million in Naval equipment, supplies and uniforms for the cadets.
Building 23, the larger of the two buildings and a former barracks, is currently in shambles, with few walls standing. Work on it, scheduled to begin more than a year ago, was halted at its onset since work was going to disturb the nesting migratory birds on a high point on the roof of the building, in violation of environmental policies. Since then, with the birds gone but the nest still intact, there have been a couple of announcements that bids were going to be advertised, though were both apparently called back before advertised.
Advisory Committee Vice Chairman Shawn Welch, in praising Dr. Ford for his explanations and attention to the details of the update of progress, said he is looking forward to the bids being advertised by February.
However, during the public portion of the meeting, while Welsh said he understood Dr. Ford’s explanation of the reasons for delaying the bids until next year, neither Parks Superintendent Jan Nercessian nor other commission members said if they knew why the delays have taken place in advertising for bids, or what plans the district has should the bids come in considerably higher than budgeted. Ford had said bids could be awarded “hopefully,” so the district can “continue to do what we do.”
