The Ottawa Elementary School Board was warned Tuesday air conditioning, even window units, will not be possible by next summer at Lincoln Elementary School.
District Architect Bill Taylor told the board issues with the supply chain meant the electrical equipment necessary to make window units work at the school were not received in time.
“Originally, the supplier indicated they would be able to make that date (the end of June),” Taylor said. “They actually broke the delivery up into five different shipments. The last shipment came the second week of August, which was well behind what had been anticipated.”
Taylor said the main concern is the electrical equipment over the mechanical units because every solution requires electrical upgrades.
He also pointed out delays have affected other projects like the one at McKinley. The final piece of electrical equipment required there didn’t get delivered until Oct. 10.
“I would think if one were to approach the project of the window units thinking that’s a temporary solution, we’d want to try and build as much of that solution around a future permanent solution,” Taylor said. “We wouldn’t want to just do whatever we needed to for window units to throw it all away when another project comes along. We want to marry those together as much as possible so the district is getting the best value for its expenses.”
The school board also voted to rescind a prior motion that authorized Superintendent Michelle Lee to seek bids for air conditioning at Lincoln Elementary with geothermal recommended, as even going out for a bid on that project would cost more than $500,000.
Lee said at the Sept. 20 meeting the district does not have the funds available for a geothermal air conditioning project at Lincoln Elementary, and it would have to max out its bonding capacity of $12,233,176, which she said is a bad idea and compared it to maxing out a credit limit.