Before the Marion Capital Improvements Planning Committee can confidently sink its collective teeth into capital requests being made by the Old Rochester Regional School District, it has requested greater detail to facilitate its own process.
In interviewing various municipal department heads, the CIPC takes in annual capital requests, each at least $10,000 in cost and with a minimum of five years of “useful life.” From there, the committee studies each proposal and prepares an evaluation, ultimately offering the Finance Committee and the Select Board a comprehensive ranking of department-submitted projects relative to Fiscal Year 2023 and on a 10-year outlook.
Many factors are taken into the CIPC’s consideration for such a ranking, including alternative funding sources, the likelihood of bureaucratic obstacles, logistical constraints, the sustainability of the investment in a project, etc.
On November 30, ORR Facilities Director Gene Jones met with the CIPC via Zoom to outline the school district’s capital requests. Dividing ORR’s capital requests into Sippican Elementary School and ORR Senior/Junior high schools, Jones presented several needs for the CIPC’s consumption.
CIPC Chairman Paul Naiman noted that for purposes of the committee’s consumption, all of the school department’s requests are going to come out of general fund.
Sippican Elementary School’s roof-top HVAC units have been servicing the building for 21 years, according to Jones, who said it’s time for units to be decommissioned and/or overhauled. He targeted the 2024-25 academic year, estimating it will cost $50,000 “to go through and refurbish them.”
Jones categorized the roof-top units as a safety and air-quality measure, providing a safe environment that extends to Marion’s senior citizens who use the building. There are four units, so Jones recommended dealing with one per year, stating that the units will “go beyond 10 years.” The curbs, he said, “are all good” and the rooftop units “solid.” The building dates back to 1937, but the units are setting well, according to Jones. Now, he says, it’s time to refurbish the compressors and motors.
Naiman asked Jones to go back to his application paperwork and fill in the information discussed, along with that which emanated from the questions posed by CIPC members.
Other requests relating to Sippican Elementary included $25,000 for tile flooring to cover all first-grade rooms. Jones noted that because of COVID-19, there remains $50,000 funded from prior years. “It’s like painting the bridge, we continue on and finish it,” he said.
The nitrogen seals in eight of Sippican’s windows have failed and will need $20,000 to repair. According to Jones, this requires window replacement. The windows, located in the cafeteria and on the wing by the tennis courts, have been in place since the 2000-01 school year.
Sippican’s furnishings have not been changed since 2001. “Some of the teachers have duct tape on their (chair’s) arms. This has come to a point where it’s that time,” said Jones, estimating $36,000 to repair. An inventory of what is deemed usable is estimated at $12,000. “We have to address this because no one does,” he said.
Sippican is also looking to upgrade wifi extenders and switches. When the school building needs to function as an emergency shelter, people gather for heat but also charge their phones and get their devices online. MCAS testing is also a factor, Jones explained. So are worn devices that Sippican School’s access point senses, affecting bandwidth.
Jones also classified this as a safety issue. “If we don’t have it, there’s no communications from the school to the first responders … other than phone. … It’s our whole backbone,” he said.
ORR is also requesting flooring, asphalt repair and a new boiler.
The $35,000 requested in asphalt repair would address approximately 300 feet of “crocodiling” between the junior and senior high school backside entrances. The work would be a continuation of what was done last year, although Jones said that there was no money allocated last year for the asphalt repair.
Jones said nothing passed from the district, except the track rehab via its new capital-stabilization fund. ORR Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson told the CIPC that ORR always shares its 10-year capital plan with the Marion Planning Board.
CIPC members Casimiro Barros and David Janik helped clarify the request with their questions.
Jones told the CIPC that ORR’s Hawk Boiler “was already obsolete” in 2000 due to its combustion controls. “I want to go to Johnson controls (fully automated),” he said, noting that Sippican is under the new Johnson control system. The committee asked Jones to buttress the request by including an estimate of savings.
It still has flooring from 1961; it was not replaced in the school building’s major renovation. Jones estimates that depending on the sub-floor conditions, a $25,000 expense could upgrade five rooms and a hallway. He said ORR’s hallways are much wider than the elementary school’s.
Jones told Naiman that the high school has been tested for asbestos and there is none in the building.
Barros suggested Jones use the requested revisions to buttress his presentations to the towns of Mattapoisett and Rochester.
Sippican School’s 10-year capital plan extends the requests made relative to FY23 and adds some significant ones, such as $300,000 for Sippican’s phased-roof-section replacement, to be spread over five years ($60,000 annually) from FY28 to FY32.
That project will begin with the completion of a $200,000 request to refurbish rooftop units ($50,000 per year from FY24 to FY27.)
Installing Glycol (anti-freeze) into Sippican’s HVAC system is a one-shot deal for $120,000 slated for FY25.
A 20-year update targeting FY33 will be needed on equipment to upgrade the front-side playground at $115,000.
Sippican’s flooring replacement will cost $100,000 on a 10-year basis, split four times over a seven-year period beginning in FY24.
Furniture at $84,000 would be split at $36,000, $36,000 and $12,000 over the next three fiscal years. The repair of the cupola is slated for FY25 at $68,000. CIPC members are interested to see if Marion can address the cupola internally or with assistance from Upper Cape Tech.
Other items include: $60,000 in tech upgrades to be spread at $20,000 annually over the next three fiscal years, $35,000 for the refurbishing of Sippican’s chiller compressors in FY25, $25,000 for public address and clock-system replacement in FY26 and $20,000 for the eight window seals in FY24.
Marion’s portion of ORR’s 10-year capital plan calls for $250,000 for floor-tile replacement, spread annually at $25,000 for the next 10 years and the building’s furniture replacement will be similarly spread ($96,000 over eight years from FY26 to FY33.)
An irrigation system for athletic fields at $114,000 will be spread over FY25 ($38,000) and FY26 ($58,000.) Road and parking-lot repair (asphalt) is proposed at $70,000 even divided over the next two fiscal years.
Other ORR requests include: $32,000 for the tech room (FY25), $32,000 for foodservice equipment replacement (to be divided evenly in FY27 and FY29), $26,000 for an update to the boiler-combustion control (FY24), $24,000 for ground maintenance equipment; $20,000 for tennis-court rehab and $15,000 for replacement of the district’s truck.
The next public meeting of the Marion CIPC is a remote-access meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 8, at 7:00 pm, when the committee will hear capital requests from the Department of Public Works.
Marion Capital Improvements Planning Committee
By Mick Colageo