Bradford Area School Board held a work session Monday to work out the details for the Guaranteed Energy Savings Plan (GESA) contracts with McClure Company. These contracts cover upgrades to equipment and systems at Bradford Area High School, School Street Elementary and George G. Blaisdell.
Account executive Eric Petrazio and Nick Minotti, project development engineer, were in attendance from McClure Company.
Petrazio explained that the company typically provides one contract but due to a request from the school district’s solicitor, the Bradford Area High School HVAC and control upgrades are separated into a separate contract. That project alone has a projected cost of $10,737,726, which will be funded using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief or ESSERS funds the district has received.
Supervisor of maintenance and custodial services Gene Woodmansee and maintenance staff member Pat Giordano spoke of the age of the equipment at the high school, noting that the rubber damper currently in use has been outdated for 20 to 30 years. Also, the systems do not allow for controls based on airflow in individual classrooms. The upgrades include Carbon Monoxide sensors in each classroom, so that fresh air flow will be determined by the levels recorded in each area. Current systems do not provide for this capability.
“We had a lot of, in my opinion, ventilation problems because of COVID. Because of the heat and because we don’t have the proper ventilation tools within our schools, there was concern of using fans for fear of the spread of COVID, and to fix our air filtration is the most important part of that,” School Board President Shane Oschman said.
Meanwhile, the second contract includes transformer replacements at both the high school and School Street Elementary School, renovations of the high school locker room and gymnasium, replacements of plumbing piping at the high school and electrical upgrades at George G. Blaisdell Elementary School. The work on the three buildings will total $9,284,354.
Director of Finance Judy Bodamer pointed out that some of the renovations on the second contract are on the five-year plan for the district and will be taken care of with this contract.
The board discussed the viability of upgrades at Floyd C. Fretz Middle School as well.
Bodamer pointed out that even during summer, there are programs operating in district buildings.
“For the financing but more importantly, as Eric said, we have summer school to run, we have multiple things going on in the summertime,” Bodamer said. “If you’re doing projects at literally every single one of your buildings, where are you holding them? Those buildings are going to be torn up and you are going to need a place for students to go to continue to run this program.”
Superintendent Katy Pude also pointed out that tying up all four buildings in renovations during the summer might lead to a loss in funding that has been provided specifically to address learning loss during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pude pointed out, “They are very, very prescriptive as to what that money has to be used for, and it’s learning loss after school and summer school. So if you have no place to have a summer school, you’re running the risk of also losing that additional money.”
Petrazio explained that these contracts, rather than a “you do this and you’re done” scenario, are more of a phased approach to renovations. Specific projects are completed and plans can be made to move forward with a second phase, which can include improvements to Fretz.
Woodmansee and Giordano confirmed that systems in operation at Fretz are still operating at a satisfactory level and adjustments have been made to address issues with air circulation in the past, as well as higher temperatures in the fall or spring.
The third floor at School Street is another example where systems controlling temperature and air flow are still operating at satisfactory levels. However, upgrades would include new controls for those systems, unifying the controls and allowing for easier upgrades to the systems in the future when needed.
McClure has the contract under peer review. It will be provided to the school district for a vote prior to the next meeting, which is set for noon on Monday.
