By Pam Dudding Contributing writer
Samuel Foster has continued with the follow-up with the ESSER funds allotted for facility upgrades at Craig County Public Schools.
Foster reminded that Board that in April, CCPS had a company to come in and tour the building to start the proposal stage of how to do upgrades in the schools.
The ESSER monies are predominantly used for improvements to HVAC in the facilities in order to combat Covid.
“We looked at six different areas for the projects: the auditorium, gymnasium, locker rooms, media cent.er, cafeteria and kitchen and the nurses’ area and waiting room,” he explained to the Board “Part of the problems we are running into is that our HVAC systems are old and at the end of life. Our maintenance has difficulties in maintaining them, running out of parts and the freon is the old freon which is no longer made. There are a myriad of reasons to do these upgrades. It is a good time to do this with the additional funding.”
Foster defined terms used in the verbiage of the upgrades.
- Normal Cost – estimate for the construction cost (based off of established tables)
- Potential cost – due to covid and lack of supplies, there is a significant increase, as much as 30 percent
- Davis Bacon Act – related to wages specifically for people who work in the electrical trade
“If you take the normal cost, add 30 percent for the Covid, another 15 percent for Davis Act, then add contingencies (the average is to add 15 percent for unknown expenses that may occur and 25 percent for soft costs such as administrative fees), you will get the estimate. However, if we wait until 2022, there could be another 5 percent increase,” Foster explained. “With all these numbers, an informed decision could be made.”
He explained the proposals for each project which includes potential costs associated with COVID-19, inflation and unknown expenses;
- Auditorium – Remove and replace existing HVAC rooftop unit and HVAC control system. Remove and replace the existing seating, remove and replace flooring finishings, paint wall and ceiling surfaces, and remove and replace materials on the front of the stage. Estimated cost: $310,000 to $662,000
- Gymnasium – Remove and replace existing heating and ventilation system and HVAC control system. Include air conditioning in the new system. Temporarily remove bleachers, remove existing deteriorated rubber flooring, clean and paint all wall, ceiling and exposed roof structure, install new maple sports flooring including ADA accessible transition and re-install bleachers. Estimated cost: $572,000 to $1,220,000
- Locker Rooms – Remove and replace existing heating, ventilation system and HVAC control system. Make alternations to the layout of the locker rooms, showers and toilets for improved visibility, accessibility, social distancing and privacy. Replace lockers. Estimated cost: $256,000 to $546,000
- Media Center/ Library – Remove and replace existing HVAC rooftop unit and HVAC control system. Estimated cost: $50,000 to $107,000
- Cafeteria and Kitchen – Remove and replace the existing HVAC rooftop units and HVAC control system. Estimated cost: $126,000 to $269,000
- Nurses Clinic and waiting room – Remove and replace the previously added partition walls in clinic waiting room. Replace associated electrical elements in walls. Add separate HVAC rooftop unit to serve only the clinic and waiting room. Replace HVAC in CCHS administrative area. Estimated cost: $106,000 to $227,000
In speaking with the architects at Thompson and Litton, Foster explained that they propose to group the projects together by trade, in order to maximize the efficiency of the work and to minimize costs.
Therefore, it is suggested to group together the HVAC projects, the auditorium, gymnasium, media center/library and the cafeteria/kitchen and in a second group, the auditorium, gymnasium, locker rooms, nurses clinic and waiting room.
Foster gave the example that a crane will have to be used to install the HVAC roof systems.
“Therefore, if we only have to use one crane for the four systems, we can save money,” he said.
Foster explained to move forward, they have to have completed architectural diagrams for each project, so they can obtain accurate biddings.
- •Project 1 – HVAC improvements at CCMS/CCHS: Construction documents for bidding and construction purposes including drawings and specifications, construction contract bidding and award and construction contract administration. Fee: $79,140
- •Project 2 – Alterations and renovations: Construction documents, price analysis, construction contract administration and construction details and specifications for pricing and construction by local Va. Department of General Services (DGS) Job Order Contract (JOC) contractor. Fee: $79,370. Note: JOC contractors must follow certain pricing and procurement procedures to help keep costs low
The projected timeline for the projects are:
- October 12: School Board approval for Thompson & Litton as architect and project manager, and provide construction documents, contract bidding and award, construction contract administration. 1- HVAC improvements (auditorium, gymnasium, media center, cafeteria CCHS administration area) $79,140 for design and administration. 2- Renovations (auditorium, gymnasium, locker rooms, and nurses clinic) $79,370. for design and administration
- October 2021: Purchase orders and contract documents are signed
- April 2022: 180-day deadline for T & L to have documents prepared for bidding. This assumes timely reviews and responses by CCPS
- May 2022: Bids secured for construction
- June 2022: Renovations and construction begin
“If we do not do this, then it will have to be extended into the future and then we would have to start from scratch,” Foster said. “We already have T & L and the main component of the project.”
He noted that they are not committing to a contractor to do the work yet.
Foster explained they could then start the projects under way and the major reasoning for using T&L is because they are familiar in working with schools.
“In every discussion I have had, it has been about how we can make this efficient for the school system and how can we save the school system some money, so they are trying to work with us, knowing that we are small, and we do not have a lot of staff to be able to do addition tasks,” Foster said. “They are working hard for us and what they will give us is a good product. “
“Many contractors work with huge school divisions with much greater budgets than ours,” Warwick added. “They are currently working with Radford City schools and have completed other work for us previously.”
Warwick also noted that McCleary’ s HVAC are almost new.
The Board discussed the options and verified Fosters’ reported facts and approved T & L.
The Board is excited about the projects being in motion.
