Basketball courts approved for Simkins Park

The Pahrump town board scored some points with local sports enthusiasts by approving a proposal for two full-sized basketball courts at Simkins Park on Tuesday.

The decision paves the way for an additional community court aside from the ones at Petrack Park.

The architectural and engineering services for the work will proceed under the direction of Gary Guy Wilson Architects from Las Vegas.

Representative Les Travis told the board the multi-phase project is expected to cost roughly $25,000 and all facets of the work will fall under the auspices of the firm.

Building and Grounds Manager Matt Luis said the Simkins project is just one of several the town is working on with the firm.

He also spoke about the project’s tiny budget impact.

“This is a fairly small project within the big picture and we have projects coming up that are much larger like the fairgrounds. I feel that this is a good stepping stone with this group for everybody to get familiar with each other and move on. These prices are hard for me to swallow, but it creates checks and balances all the way through the project instead of having one contractor on site. You’ll have the engineering, the contractor and the subcontractors and I hear from all of them on how the project is going. I think it is very, very important to go this way,” he said.

Travis, meanwhile, said by having his firm oversee the project, town staff can focus on other important business within the community.

“Our company is in a position to provide all of the services required to build the basketball courts. This enables Matt to manage only one contract, which will utilize his time more appropriately for other activities that he’s involved in. Our services provide the appropriate architectural design and the civil engineering topographic services that will be required to complete the project,” he said.

Additionally, Travis said the firm has worked on numerous projects both in Pahrump and Nye County.

“We have been a participant in providing facilities here in Pahrump since 1994. Our initial project was the Pahrump Medical Center. Since then we have been involved with several projects recently with Nye County on the Health and Human Services project at the Calvada Eye. We are very entrenched with the overall construction approval process and we are very familiar with planning and zoning staff, public works, building department and the other entities required to seek approval for projects such as this,” he said.

The representative told the board that previous construction in the area of the park may force the firm to perform additional work in order to properly construct the ball courts.

“In order to develop that piece of property, some previous construction activity placed a significant amount of disposal on that land and one of the things that is incorporated in our work is to do a topographic survey so that we can account for the excess fill that is on the property. The one thing that we want to be sure of is that any runoff from that is not going to be detrimental to any of the balance of the park or the neighboring properties,” he said.

Travis also said any liabilities associated with the job will be covered by the firm.

“If we create issues, we are going to fix them and we carry error submissions insurance. I believe the amount is $2 million in the event if something happens where we screwed up like that, we have insurance that’s going to protect the town,” he said.

Following further discussion, board members voted unanimously to award the architectural and engineering services for the project to the firm.

Work is expected to begin once a Request for Proposal (RFP) on the project has been received and eventually voted upon by the town.

The town has just completed the some major improvements to the 8.7 acre park including a 125-space asphalt parking lot, shade covering over the playgrounds and new landscaping.

Also on Tuesday, board members passed eight consent agenda items including the write-offs of delinquent ambulance service accounts as well as accepting proposals from Joe’s Sanitation and the Marine Corps League for respectively providing waste collection and security for the 2013 Pahrump Fall Festival which kicked off yesterday.