KARNS CITY — Karns City Area School District appointed an architecture firm and construction manager for a future junior/senior high school renovation project and approved other capital project bids at its last meeting of the year Thursday, Dec. 4.

The school board voted 7-1 to approve Hayes Design Group as the lead architecture and engineering firm for the project. Dennis Kelly voted no, while Joseph Boltz abstained.

Hayes beat out DRAW Collective and Stantec for the lead role after the groups previously gave a presentation to the board. The board deliberated for about an hour at its board work session meeting Thursday evening before voting on which firm to go with, citing factors such as the presentation given and cost for bringing on the firms. The majority of the board said they were most confident in either Hayes or DRAW Collective.

The board also voted to approve Eckles Construction Services as the lead construction manager for the project.

John Pappas, president of Eckles Construction Services, has regularly worked on renovation projects with schools around Butler County. He said Thursday the status of Karns City’s high school project was very early on, currently in the “predesign phase.”

Board President Josh Price said during the meeting the board does not currently know what the size or scope of the project would be.

The school board also approved multiple bids for other capital projects Thursday night.

The board approved a proposal from AGX, Inc. for services during the abatement phase of the upcoming demolition of Sugarcreek Elementary School.

The board approved Keystone Sports as the state-approved contract vendor to resurface the track for the Karns City Junior/Senior High School Stadium project.

Capital projects have come up at board meetings for months. The board has been in planning stages to demolish the former Sugarcreek Elementary building while it has also worked to make upgrades to the high school stadium, such as fixing the track and putting in new lighting.

The idea of a high school renovation first came up in January. At the time, superintendent Eric Ritzert said the project would be “down the road,” but expected conversations to eventually pick up steam.

The district recently completed an expansion and renovation of Chicora Elementary School for the current academic year.