When it comes to refurbishment work aimed at preserving a historic landmark in Wrightstown, township officials are going back to the drawing board.
At a public meeting on Monday, the three-person board of supervisors that locally governs the township rejected all bids submitted by contractors who had showed interest in repairing the roof at the Octagonal Schoolhouse, a structure built in the early 1800s that’s the only remaining octagonal-shaped school in Bucks County, according to a township history.
A subcommittee that included Supervisor Jane Magne, Township Engineer Cindy VanHise and a member of the local historic commission thoroughly reviewed the bids but found them all lacking.
“The subcommittee felt that some bidders did not provide sufficient guarantee and one contractor was unfamiliar with the scope of work needed,” said supervisor Chairman Chester Pogonowski. “Also, one bidder indicated they could not complete the work for their stated bid price given a new understanding of the work needed.”
Still, township officials aren’t giving up on the project.
VanHise has identified three new contractors who are members of the Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau and who want to bid on the project, officials said.
Being part of the CSSB is important because the cedar shake manufacturer will provide a 25-year warranty on the roof materials — which the township wants for the Octagonal School — only if they are installed by a CSSB-certified contractor, Pogonowski said.
Supervisors, on Monday, authorized township professionals to publicly re-advertise bids for the project — something it’s mandated the township do when a project’s anticipated cost is over a certain threshold.
“The hope is to get a contractor identified and on schedule to complete the work by late winter/early spring, weather permitting,” said Pogonowski.
According to a history from Wrightstown, the octagonal, sometimes called “ink bottle,” shape accounted for more than 100 schools in the Delaware Valley of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
The first such eight-sided structure was built in 1773 in Oxford Valley.
The Wrightstown Octagonal School’s roots stretch back to 1802. The building served as a school until 1850. It became obsolete for that use as government became involved in education and township school districts formed.
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