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North Putnam solar field on school board radar
ROACHDALE — Having served its purpose for the last seven years, how the solar field near North Putnam High School will be managed moving forward now has the attention of North Putnam administration.
In his report to the North Putnam School Board at its regular meeting Thursday evening, Asst. Supt. Rodney Simpson informed the board that a company transfer will change dynamics as such.
Emphasizing that the 1.6-megawatt field is working as it should, Simpson said Johnson-Melloh, which partnered with North Putnam on the project, recently sold it out to Arizona-based Veregy.
The crux is that North Putnam’s eight-year contract for the solar field’s upkeep will end next September. This, Simpson said, means the board will have to decide whether to continue with Veregy or go with another company.
From now on, Simpson said a service technician will be required to check in with him when they are on-site, after which he will receive reports on repairs and inventory.
As to the latter, extra panels were to be kept in storage but have not been. Otherwise, Simpson said he was working to get a kiosk working again so that the field can be monitored at the central office.
“We have been getting our energy savings money,” Simpson said as to this being promised when the project was installed. This is even as it was built as a design-build project, not an energy savings one. It was reported in 2015 that said savings ranged $2.9 million over 25 years.
Board member Ron Spencer recalled from a previous meeting, that the agreement between the corporation and Johnson-Melloh ensured “net-zero” for 20 years. However, Corporation Treasurer Tanya Pearson responded that Duke Energy did not agree to put this much energy on the grid.
“We aren’t net-zero,” Pearson said. “That was the claim that they (Johnson-Melloh) made at the board meeting.”
Simpson said batteries on the site store energy for Duke, which actually supplies the electricity to both the middle school and the high school. Meanwhile, the towns of Bainbridge and Roachdale supply to the elementary schools.
Pearson said North Putnam pays nearly $21,000 a month toward the solar field. She discussed working to get a debt service for what the corporation still owes on the roughly $4 million project, that being in 2015 terms.
In other business:
• The board approved three quotes by McGrath Concrete for asphalt and concrete work at Roachdale and Bainbridge elementary schools and the central office. The quotes for Roachdale and Bainbridge were $123,480.50 and $116,562,32, respectively, while the quote for the central office was $28,217,000.
A quote for the Bainbridge Elementary work by Milestone Contractors was lower, but it was noted that the work could not be completed within the rest of the year.
“I think we’re lucky to get it done as quick as we are,” board member Eric Oliver commented before the approval. Interim Supt. Carrie Milner provided that it was hoped the work could be completed this week.
The board also approved the following personnel report:
• New hires: Matt Couch - NPHS math teacher; Donna Estep and Brandi Polster - bus drivers; Linda McFerron - NPMS seventh-grade boys’ basketball assistant coach; Richard Smith - seventh-grade boys’ basketball head coach; Andrew Thomas - NPMS swimming head coach; Wes Richardson, Alyssa Chew and Kim Klein - NPMS swimming assistant coaches; Josh Myers - NPMS wrestling head coach; Dave Vaughn - NPMS wrestling assistant coach; Emilee Kendall - NPHS girls’ basketball assistant coach; Haley Weaver - freshman girls’ basketball assistant coach; and Jeremy Windmiller and Craig Franklin - third-grade girls’ basketball coaches;
• ECA: Stephanie Brooks - middle school sports supervisor for evening events (winter season);
• Leave: Keith Gilpatrick - NPMS assistant principal/athletic director (effective Sept. 27 through March 1, 2024);
• Resignation: Jessica Gomez - Roachdale Elementary instructional assistant (effective Oct. 13).
With Board Secretary Heather Lawson absent, Corporation Attorney Tyler Nichols joined Simpson, Pearson, Milner and the rest of the board for the meeting.
The next regular meeting of the North Putnam School Board is set for Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in the large group instruction room at North Putnam High School.