After a lengthy public bid process, the construction work for stadiums at New Iberia Senior High School and Westgate High School are set to begin. However, rain and bad weather conditions have stalled the project for the moment.

“It’s kind of grinding at a halt,” said Iberia Parish School Board maintenance manager Harry Lopez.

The timeline for completion of the stadium projects was August of this year, Lopez said, with extensions to the school’s field house and locker rooms to be complected in October.

“We’re just working with what we are given which right now is not good considering they are predicting more bad weather,” Lopez said. “They may have to rework the timeline.”

Minvielle Lumber Co. in Abbeville was awarded the bid for the stadium work at around $6.5 million, which includes work on field lighting at the schools.

Lopez said dirt and foundation work at Westgate has begun on the home side of the field and a few demolition projects began at NISH. The work was done prior to the holiday season before the stretch of bad weather.

“That’s construction,” said Lopez when asked if he was disappointed about the delays in the stadium project. “Even in the summer you can catch a stretch of bad rain or weather. They’re hoping for the site to dry up and find other parts of the project that aren’t too weather dependent.”

In June, the School Board received four bids which were over the allotted budget of $5.1 million. School Board members approved changes in the scope of the project by reducing seating at both proposed stadiums, as well as reducing the size of the field house at both schools.

In October, seven bids were once again over the board’s budget.

In a letter to board members, Iberia Parish school’s superintendent Dale Henderson recommended the board accept Minvielle’s bid with the contention that the board apply bond savings from other projects to the board’s budget.

Despite the weather, Henderson said he was pleased to finally get the project started.

“The work has begun at NISH and Westgate, and so far its been general site work in preparation for construction work,” Henderson said in a phone interview. “It’s very encouraging to get this project underway.

“The games will now be played at those two respective stadiums and they will finally have their own athletic facility to play in.”

The stadium project was part of a $50 million bond issue to cover renovation and improvements at schools in the parish. New stadiums for NISH and Westgate were meant to alleviate parking issues as well as scheduling conflicts when both schools played a “home” game at Lloyd G. Porter Memorial Stadium.