Between delays in approval for construction plans by the State Education Department (SED), supply chain issues and rising costs, Edgemont’s nonbond and bond capital projects are being impacted.
Assistant superintendent Brian Paul laid it all out for the board of education Tuesday, May 24.
“As you can imagine as we are all living through some of these challenges in our own personal lives, there are a few things that are presenting some challenges currently and there are potential challenges as it relates to the timelines and costs associated with any construction work,” Paul said.
Some of the nonbond “small projects,” Paul said, involve the district’s building improvement line or transfers to capital from the annual budget. One is the renovation of bathrooms at the junior/senior high school in the art building/faculty building, those on upper and lower floors of D building and C building using $750,000 approved in the current 2021-22 budget, with additional supplemental funds. That work is slated to begin June 24 and go through the summer, but the district will put off the art/faculty renovation for now.
“The work is costly,” Paul said. “As one can imagine with escalating prices associated with labor and materials themselves, we’ve had to make a decision to scale back and not do the arts building bathroom, which is the district office bathroom as well. At the same time I think that decision there is more of a reason than just saying to make sure that we can accommodate the work associated with those other bathrooms we spoke of.
“I think we have ever-evolving ideas about how to utilize that space, in particular as it relates to the district office, once we have the renovation and expansion on the A building that will give us an opportunity to really look at the use of the bathrooms, the size of the bathrooms as it relates to that atrium as you walk in as well.”
The district received funding through federal grants for COVID-19-related work, one being air quality improvement. The resource building HVAC system is “aging” and “antiquated,” according to Paul. Repairs were done last year to “keep it up and running,” and the district plans to use some of those federal funds for that replacement. Paul said that entire project is being put off from this summer to the summer of 2023 because it will take six months to receive the equipment.
Edgemont’s Director of Facilities John McCabe said the new equipment, despite its advancement, is nearly twice as big. He said the district plans to order the unit in September to have it for the following June ready to install when students aren’t in the building.
The Seely Place Elementary School window replacement that is based on a $700,000 transfer to capital from the upcoming 2022-23 budget, plus additional supplemental funds “if necessary,” is “on schedule,” Paul said.
The final nonbond project that was originally supposed to be part of the bond, an oil tank in the back parking lot at Seely Place, is being delayed, but “with costs escalating and going up quickly we’re trying to be prudent and recognize that the bond funding is going to be limited and we’re not going to have as much flexibility in the cost right now,” according to Paul, who said it “is going to be prudent for us in the budget development next year to look at maybe increasing the districtwide improvement line so that we can take care of the replacement of this tank separately so it’s not drawing down from the bond-related costs themselves.”
One board member asked about switching to natural gas instead of oil, but McCabe said with “extreme” summer and winter temperatures the “horsepower” from fossil fuels is “unfortunately” necessary.
When beginning the bond projects update, Paul said it was “unfortunate news” and the “same story” with “lead times and supply chain issues as it relates to securing materials and supplies.” He then talked about delays in SED approval and “a complicated process” that is “requiring additional steps” compared to previous state project managers.
“It’s just been a bunch of additional things that have been requested that we were not asked for in the past and we have not had turnaround on any of that work,” Paul said.
The Seely Place Phase 1 HVAC and the Greenville and Seely Place elementary school cafeterias’ renovations that were supposed to begin this summer “in an effort to spread the work out” are being moved to “next school year” between the SED delays and the ability to purchase supplies. Paul said the bid would hopefully go out in August, assuming the SED grants approval.
Phase 2, Paul said, is “everything else” and is “evolving into a single phase style project.” He said many of those projects are still on target for September 2025, including E building at the junior/senior high school and parking and roadway upgrades, and the renovation of the existing A building after the new A building is built. The high school cafeteria and Greenville and Seely Place work is targeted for 2024 for completion, “just two months out from what presented in February.”
“Put the big asterisk on here and caveat, these are milestone timelines,” Paul said. “These are current projections. And these hinge upon SED approval and supply chain and a number of other things, including financing, which I think is worth pulling into the mix here as well.”
The district secured a $3.8 million bond anticipation note last fall based on a project plan for 12 months, which can be rolled into a second year and increased to “meet needs” for 12 to 16 months. With an increase in interest rates and inflation, a “significant project” for the administration will be to work with financial advisors this summer. Paul anticipates making a presentation over the summer to report on for “next steps and prices.”
What the district does not yet know is if the approved bond totals will cover the costs of the projects, which could lead to scaling back, delaying projects or using additional funding sources to complete projects, including another bond.
“We’re way too far out to talk about any of those,” Paul said. “We don’t have enough information yet to be able to really narrow down what we want. The hope is that we can stay on budget, accomplish the work and not have to make decisions to cut back or scale back from what we are proposing, but I think it would be silly not to mention it just given the increase in labor costs and materials that we’ve experienced over the last six months.”
