School Building Authority to Visit Mount Greylock Regional
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The school district is looking at hundreds of thousands to repair a collapsed ceiling in the girls' locker room and other poorly constructed ceilings in the 1968 addition. Added to that is the cost of replacing an aging boiler system.
While state funding may come through, the Mount Greylock School Committee on Tuesday night decided to move forward with bonding the projects rather than wait for months or more for state money or grants.
With winter approaching and school about to start, it was important that both projects get started as soon as possible, said committee members.
Andrew Hogeland, chairman of the building committee, said there were four funding options: bonding, the School Building Authority, grants through the Green Communities Act and the possibility of partnerhip with private contractor installing alternative heating systems.
Applications are not yet available for Green Communities funding and there would unlikely be enough energy produced in an alternative system to make it worth a private entity's investment, he said.
SBA funds would be welcome but would also likely slow the project down because of a multiple approval process, he said.
School Committee Chairman David Archibald said the four towns in the regional school district — Hancock, New Ashford, Lanesborough and Williamstown — needed to be informed of the bonding. Several conversations have been had with Williamstown, including Hogeland giving the Selectmen an update earlier this month. School Committee member Robert Ericson had meet with the Hancock officials earlier in the evening.
It was unclear whether the towns would have to hold town meetings; the school's counsel was reviewing the process. The bonding language will take into account the possibility of grants down the line and that the full cost of the projects is not yet kown.
After some discussion, the board endorsed putting out a request for proposals for the ceiling project rather than combining it with the boiler replacement. The draft for the ceiling repair is ready to go, said Hogeland, while the engineering report for the boilers is not expected until Friday at the earliest.
Ericson suggested waiting and combining the proposals as a way to cut costs and have better quality control under the assumption that one contractor would bid for the entire package. Archibald said it was preferable to get the project moving as fast as possible and that he didn't see a lot of overlap in two plans.
The RFP for the ceilings will include notice of the boiler project and the likelihood that the winning bidder will have to coordinate with the project.
The School Committee is hoping to get some legislative support by inviting local lawmakers to the high school for next Thursday's visit by the SBA. Hogeland suggested that while the entire school board might be too much, several representatives and members of the building committee should be on hand.
Superintendent William Travis said a School Committee meeting will be posted in case a quorum is reached or if the committee needs to meet that evening to take action on any matters arising from the visit.
The exact time of the visit was unknown Tuesday but the SBA team was expected to tour Hancock Scchool the same day.
