News Photo by Reagan Voetberg The Alpena School Board prepares to vote on an action on Monday night at the Alpena Public Schools Administration building board room.

ALPENA — On Monday night, the Alpena Public Schools Board of Education met for its regular meeting to vote on agenda items such as the sale of five lots on Wildcat Court and the consideration of three bids related to the Safe, Dry, and Warm Bond.

Board members voted unanimously to sell five lots on Wildcat Court, off of 3rd Avenue. These lots were owned by Alpena Public Schools for use by students in the Career and Technical Education program to learn how to construct houses.

The lots have not been built on in the past couple of years, and teachers in the program have pivoted to other building projects, like tiny houses, said Anna Meinhardt, president of the APS board.

Meinhardt said that APS still owns two lots, just in case there is a shift in the program.

Board members also had a lengthy discussion about which asphalt bid to accept. Payne and Dolan offered a bid of $681,400, and Goodrich offered a bid of $713,950.

Some board members expressed concern that choosing Goodrich would show a bias towards local companies, as Goodrich is based in Alpena.

They ultimately voted to accept Goodrich’s bid for the project. Two board members voted against the motion.

Other proceedings at the meeting included a Good News presentation by Alpena High School Principal Romeo Bourdage about the current culture and climate at AHS and goals for the future.

Also during Monday’s meeting, a presentation by Amy Nowakowski, senior project manager at Huron Pines, a conservation organization, laid out the ideas and plans behind creating a rain garden in the AHS overflow parking lot.

Board members asked Nowakowski questions and discussed the pros and cons of the project.

The rain garden was included as alternate three in the last of the three bids to be voted on at the meeting. Board members decided to exclude alternate three from the vote to discuss the project further.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.