Court Opinion

ID: 9764482
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:24:21.60565+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:57.308190
License: Public Domain

PER CURIAM,
concurring.
I concur in the result in this case. However, in my opinion, the language of § 177.086 is clear and unambiguous. As such, this Court should give effect to the language as written without resorting to statutory construction. According to § 1.090, “Words and phrases shall be taken in their plain or ordinary and usual sense ....”
The phrase in question is “construction of facilities.” The principal opinion recognizes this phrase as the operative language but also unnecessarily resorts to construing the single word “construction” as that word is used in chapter 290.
In my view, taking “construction of facilities” in its plain, ordinary and usual sense leads to only one conclusion — a school dis-*115triet is not required to publicly advertise for bids unless contemplating expending over $12,500 for the construction of a facility not previously in existence.
Construct means to “build.” MERRIAM WEBSTER COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY 248 (10th ed.1995). “Facility” means “something (as a hospital) that is built .... ” Id. at 416. Repairing a roof, regardless of its cost, is not synonymous with constructing a facility. A roof cannot be repaired without an existing facility underneath it.