School district to negotiate with Wenaha Group to lead school bond, CTE projects

Published 3:30 am Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Sequim School District leaders are now in negotiations with The Wenaha Group to serve as the construction management firm for the February voter-approved $146 million, 20-year construction bond projects and Career Technical Education (Ramponi Center for Technical Excellence) building.

School Board directors unanimously agreed to the recommendation made by Superintendent Regan Nickels and a Source Selection Committee in a July 28 special meeting.

Mike Santos, the district’s facilities director, said there were four respondents to the Request for Qualifications (RFQs), and the Source Selection Committee narrowed the choices down to two firms (Wenaha and Vanir Construction) before both companies presented to the committee for consideration.

The committee then made the recommendation to Nickels, who in a July 24 letter to the school board, recommended Wenaha, who was previously chosen to oversee voter-approved 2021 Capital Projects Levy projects.

“(They are) experienced individuals that know how to navigate through the process,” Santos said.

“By having an experienced construction management firm at our side, we will be able to expedite our efforts to get to the (Project Review Committee, PRC) as soon as possible.”

According to the district’s RFQ, Wenaha’s Scope of Service would, in part, include project-management services, project planning and scheduling, assistance with procurement and contractual agreements, grant funding compliance, and more.

They would oversee the following projects through their completion: construction of the approximate 10,000-square-foot CTE facility; replace Sequim High School buildings A, B, C, D, and E; replace Helen Haller Elementary School; add a bus loop between Fir Street and Sequim Middle School; add upgrades to the multi-sport athletic field and stadium; replace the transportation center; add Greywolf Elementary School cafeteria; build new Greywolf Elementary School bus loop and parking lot; improve Greywolf Elementary School heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system, and upgrade safety and security systems at the Middle School, Greywolf, and Olympic Peninsula Academy.

District leaders previously said construction on larger projects could take upwards of two-and-a-half years before construction begins, while smaller projects could start sooner depending on when the district presents projects to the PRC, feedback from design committees is received, and selections are made for architects, contractors and more.

If negotiations don’t progress with Wenaha, Santos said state law requires them to start the selection process over.

In previous interviews, district staff said the chosen firm will help them present projects to the PRC and that could take months as the commission only meets at certain times and it takes on a set number of cases.

Staff said they’ll also consider only bringing certain projects to the PRC at a time, and the construction management firm will help them determine the order of construction.

District staff are considering a progressive design-build process that collaborates design and construction for faster project delivery and cost certainty, Nickels said in a previous interview.

A different architectural and design team could be chosen for every single project, Santos said, because they will be competed separately.

An RFQ was put out last December, then withdrawn in January in anticipation of the bond vote for The Ramponi Center for Technical Excellence, to be included with the potential bond projects. Funds for the approximate $5 million CTE building is separate from the bond.

Prior to the July 28 vote to proceed with construction management negotiations, board member Pat Johnston said she has confidence that the process choosing Wenaha was thorough and professional.

Board president Eric Pickens echoed that, saying they’ve been objective about the process.

“We want to make sure to keep our process moving, to maximize our ability to move forward with decisions, especially considering we need to go to the PRC for an alternative delivery method and want to have negotiations behind us,” Nickels said.

Santos said the Source Selection Committee’s members remain anonymous under state law, but told board members it consisted of two community members and four senior district staff members.

Updates on the bond construction process will continue to be posted at sequimschools.org/bond_program.