The Ypsilanti school board approved more than $595,000 in bids for renovation work at the New Tech High School, anticipated to be finished before the next school year.

The funds for the project will be paid out of the district’s 2007 building and site fund. Trustees approved the bids by a vote of 6-1, with board Vice President Floyd Brumfield dissenting.

Monday was the second time the bids had been brought before the board, after being sent back to committee two weeks ago. The total amount of bids approved at Monday’s meeting was $7,000 more than proposed at the March 14 meeting, after two companies were approved for the work due to their local connections.

The two companies are Huron Valley Electric, which was approved at $91,740, and Ann Arbor Ceiling and Partition Co., which was approved at $16,585. Trustees said they changed the bids in order to award the work to local companies.

“We’re in difficult times and taxpayers are supporting Ypsilanti Public Schools and we should give jobs, when we can, to Ypsilanti companies,” Trustee Kira Berman said.

Trustees approved the amendment to award the bid for drywall, insulation and acoustic work to Ann Arbor Ceiling and Partition on a 5-2 vote, with board President David Bates and Brumfield dissenting.

Floyd Brumfield

Brumfield said he could not support a bid that was $1,460 higher than the previous bid, which was from Central Ceiling & Partition.

“We just criticized our state government because we need money, schools need money and … I have no problem with using local people, but we’re adding money and I can’t support adding money like this,” he said.

The renovation work would be for the wings of the school, which only has a freshman class in the 2010-11 school year, currently not being used. The construction project does not currently have a firm deadline, but it is hoped the construction would be finished by the beginning of the 2011-12 school year.

Among the projects are cutting open existing walls and installing new lights along one corridor in the building, installing new base and flooring, and installing new sound panels in the cafeteria.

Sarah Devaney

Trustee Sarah Devaney said she supported giving the job to local businesses, but wanted to make sure paying more for work to support local companies did not become standard practice.

“It would be good to support local companies as well, and this is a small amount of money,” she said. “Are we always going to be adding so little bits add up to more?”

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.