CCSC looking into facility renovations

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

CLOVERDALE - In an effort to improve its infrastructure, Cloverdale Community Schools is considering significant improvements to its school buildings.

At its monthly meeting Monday evening, the CCSC Board of Trustees weighed recommendations for how this could be accomplished in a cost-effective way.

The board heard presentations by two representatives from EMCOR, an international construction firm that has performed other school renovation projects in Indiana.

The two separated the issue between financial needs and what the actual renovations would entail.

Their analyses were based on facility studies that were performed in April.

Tim Stamm, a financial adviser for EMCOR, staked his position on being able to guarantee savings to the school corporation.

In his presentation, Stamm provided that CCSC would not be obligated to cover the remaining cost of the renovations if the projects went overbudget.

Should the projects come underbudget, Stamm said, CCSC would be able to reap those savings for other necessities.

The bulk of the pitch was given by Kevin Livingston, who discussed the necessary upgrades needed to modernize and maximize efficiency.

He discussed projects EMCOR undertook at Brownstown Central High School and Greensburg High School, which required similar services to those needed at Cloverdale.

Livingston said that all of Cloverdale’s schools would require renovations to their temperature control and electrical systems.

At the high school, updating the ventilation, carpeting and general heating and air conditioning make up the large part of needed repairs.

These renovations would cost about $4.18 million for the high school, the greatest expenditure between the three buildings.

Livingston said that replacing boilers and chillers would be among the most important upgrade for the middle school.

However, the cost for the middle school would come to about $1.2 million, requiring the least funding from CCSC’s budget.

The elementary school would require the most renovation, mostly in terms of its electrical.

One upgrade would be replacing its generator, but would require the same attention as the high school in other areas.

The total cost for the work at the elementary school would be about $2.6 million.

In addition, parking lot repairs, as well as roof and gutter work, at the corporation’s administrative buildings would be needed as well.

In total, the construction for all three schools would cost about $7.5 million, a considerable sum for a school corporation operating on a $13 million budget.

Board members brought up the prospect that work would go on during the school, as well as the logistics of accommodating workers.

Livingston said that the majority of the work would occur during the summer break, but assured the board that it would not disrupt school-day activities.

At the end of the presentations, it was generally understood that there was not a commitment to the projects.

Greg Linton, superintendent of Cloverdale Community Schools, said that the presentations were the beginning of the conversation.

“These (presentations) were really just analysis of what needs to be done,” Linton said.

Bids would have to be submitted to the board from various companies to do the construction.

Further, there is no timeline for when a bid would be accepted, much less when work would be slated to begin.

Linton stated that more discussion would have to be had among the board and with Jeff Underwood, who is the maintenance coordinator for CCSC.

But the presentations are an important starting point for the board, which now has a visual of the issues needing to be addressed.

Additionally, the board addressed the following faculty resignation and retirement:

•Hannah Lafever, who resigned effective July 1 as an elementary school music teacher and the choir director at the middle and high school; and

•Kristi Hervey, who retired as a first-grade teacher at the elementary school, after 27 years as an educator.

The next CCSC Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for Aug. 13 at 7 p.m. in the Arthur C. Johnson Administration Building in Cloverdale.

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