Capital planning group considers school requests

By Matthew Ferreira

March 28, 2013 11:16 AM

MIDDLEBORO As the Capital Planning Committee continues its evaluation of the FY14 Capital Needs and Expenditure Plan, town manager and committee member Charles Cristello has contacted the School Department's director of business and finance Kathy Piatelli by email to begin dialogues toward streamlining their $1.8 million set of requests for FY14. Her replies were reviewed and discussed by committee members at their meeting last week. The committee is considering recommending about $900,000 worth of capital projects for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The committee's final recommendations on capital expenditures, including those requested by general government departments and the water and wastewater departments, will be presented to voters at the April 22 annual town meeting.

In response to questions about the repair or replacement of the "bridge" walkway to the main entrance at Middleboro High School at a cost of up to $300,000, Ms. Piatelli wrote, "We are awaiting a report from an engineering firm that was on site a few weeks ago doing testing. The conversation I had with the engineer last week, she indicated that the bridge is in extremely poor condition. I asked her to recommend alternative solutions as well as repair."

"I did talk to her today (about the walkway)," Mr. Cristello told the committee, "and they are looking at three different options. One of them is maybe just filling the moat and building some supports there. We should know, she said, by the end of next week " if there are other options to consider. I don't think there's any way they could do the work this summer when you have to go out for a full set of plans and bids. Now she said that they could route the kids through the gym or the cafeteria and do the work during the school year. I think it all depends on what the engineer says."

Concerning a request for $25,000 to upgrade school school security, Mr. Cristello asked, "Are the current estimates sufficient to complete this project? What components of the project caused the doubling of cost from the original request?"

"I think current estimates will put the infrastructure in place with a 16 channel DVR and a few cameras at each building," Ms. Piatelli responded. "I think once the system is in place the School Department will evaluate where additional cameras are needed and we will be able to add the additional cameras. The original request was a best guess estimate. We also added additional doors to the Access Control system."

Mr. Cristello also inquired about the School Department's request for the replacement of three HVAC units at the Henry B. Burkland Elementary School asking, "What is driving the HVAC replacements at the Elementary Complex? Is it the age of the units? Are they falling or about to fall? Has an HVAC engineer recommended their replacement? How many units are located in the Elementary Complex and what areas do they cool?" Ms. Piatelli informed Mr. Cristello that the 24-year-old units, which have a predicted lifespan of 12-15 years, are rusted and often leak. The six units in question, two of which are for cool air only, affect the cafeteria, auditorium, and office.

During discussions committee members expressed a general consensus that more information on certain line items, including the high school walkway (listed as $300,000), HBB HVAC units ($150,000), upgrading interior lighting at the high school ($100,000), and high school bathroom renovations ($80,000), would be needed to make a final decision on approving the set of requests.

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Capital planning group considers school requests