(KNZA)--The Hiawatha School Board in a special meeting Thursday evening voted to move forward with a project to refurbish the high school gymnasium bleachers.

The Board approved a bid from Heartland Seating for a total of $361,620, with funding to come from the capital outlay fund.

The project will automate the bleachers to pull out instead of a manual hand crank, as well as make them ADA accessible. In addition, the existing plywood decking will be removed and new decking installed on all sections.

Next the board discussed the option of having a polyurethane finish added to the bleachers to add to the look and life of them. It was discussed whether they would go out to bid locally or accept a bid that Heartland Seating presented.

The board decided although they like to give local vendors an opportunity to bid projects for the district, that in this case due to the time crunch, it needed to to be done by Heartland Seating as well to avoid any issues with having multiple vendors on a project.

Heartland Seating presented two options. The board approved an option that would add three coats of polyurethane finish to the bleachers at a cost of $79,783.

The project is expected to begin right after graduation and be completed by the second week of September at the latest.