A summer worth of upgrades at schools in Gillett will make a “world of difference” come Day 1 of the new school year.
The district, working with consultants from Energy Services Group, is in the middle of a $2.975 million improvement project.
“It’s so nice something is being done. We’ll notice a world of difference,” District Superintendent Todd Carlson said.
“The minute school was out, we started here. These school projects don’t give you a lot of time,” said Marty Hock, sheet metal foreman with Tweet Garot, who was working on the school’s boilers on Friday.
The district’s updates include a campuswide energy conservation upgrade of lighting, controls and building envelop, plus secondary school improvements related to plumbing, heating and ventilation. These include the replacement of a boiler installed in 1927, and 63 years past its useful life, and an air handling unit from 1961.
“It’s bringing us into the 21st century, which is good,” Carlson said.
At the elementary school, revamping the entryway will create two secure zones in the school where the classrooms are located.
Reroofing at the secondary school, which was scheduled to start Monday, is being managed by the district separate from the energy-savings and security work.
Yet another project is the recently completed installation of a sprinkler system at the football field and practice field, funded by a Joshua J. Richards Charitable Foundation donation in honor of Gillett graduate Joshua Richards.
To dress up the school buildings for the 2015-16 school year, emblems depicting the school’s Tiger mascot will be placed in the windows and other spots around the school.
All in all, it’s a vast undertaking that began this spring and will continue once school is in session again in September.
“Things are going very smoothly,” Chris Deleeuw told the Gillett School Board on Thursday. Deleeuw, of Honeywell Building Solutions, is the project manager.
Asbestos removal has been completed and came in about $10,000 under the $45,000 budgeted, he said. Lighting work is 99 percent complete, and the replacement of boilers in the secondary school is 95 percent complete. The 1927 air handling unit will be completed in August, and the final unit ventilator was installed on Friday.
The result of the upgrade will be better air distribution in all the classrooms, Deleeuw said.
Temperature controls aren’t scheduled to be replaced until school starts, when crews will work second shift.
Fund for the $2.975 million project were approved by the School Board in December when it applied for an energy savings exemption to the revenue limit, then secured a 10-year loan at an interest rate of just under 3 percent.
Annual payments of an estimated $350,000 are to be offset by the approximate $67,000 in energy savings guaranteed by ESG, lowering the payment to about $283,000 a year. This is less than the district’s payments for the secondary school addition loan. In spring, the district paid its final $410,000 payment on that loan.
According to figures presented last fall, the district spends $267,379 on energy-related expenses. After the summer retrofit, the cost is projected to decrease to $200,687, a savings of $66,692. The savings — guaranteed by ESG every year for 10 years — are to be put toward the repayment of the 10-year loan.
