TROY - The Troy Area School Board will hold a special meeting in the near future to vote on whether to proceed with an energy savings project with McClure Co.
The project, which has been a topic for the board much of this year, was further discussed at a buildings and grounds committee meeting this week. All the board members, except for Deb Harer and Ursula Fox, attended the meeting.
In addition, two representatives of the McClure Co., Shayne Homan and Christopher Stultz, were present during the meeting held in the gymnasium of W.R. Croman Primary School in Troy.
A date and time for the upcoming special meeting will be advertised in the newspaper.
At the committee meeting this week, board members discussed what they wanted included in the proposed project, and narrowed down the scope of the work that would be done, if it goes forward.
At the start of the meeting, district superintendent W. Charles Young explained to the board members that they were going to be looking at the project, and "where to go with it" and "what to do with it." Young noted that they were meeting at the Croman building because there were a lot of questions about it in relation to the planned work.
A discussion then followed, which lasted almost an hour and a half.
In the first phase of the proposed project, W.R. Croman Primary School would get a new heating plant. The work would include piping, automated controls, new unit ventilators for all the classrooms, and rooftop ventilation units, according to district maintenance supervisor David Blair. The district also wants to put in exterior and interior lighting at the school. LED lighting would be installed on the exterior of the building.
A second phase would address the Troy Intermediate School, where work would focus on interior and some exterior lighting, as well as some heating upgrades, he said.
The board ruled out new windows for Croman, because they were told by Homan that there would be low payback on energy savings on this item.
Also, board members decided to not go forward with energy savings work on the administration building on Elmira Street.
Board members didn't want to put money into the building, because it also needs other work, which Blair said is extensive. One suggestion discussed was building a new administration building, but Blair said that nothing final has been decided. When asked for comment, Blair said the existing building wasn't designed as an office building, and doesn't accommodate this purpose well.
At the start of the meeting, board member Larry Grace brought up the administration building issue.
He said that "we can never make that building right" and called it a "money pit."
Grace said he liked the idea of a new building.
With these items deleted, the cost for the energy savings project would be less than the original price tag of $4.4 million, according to Blair. Homan will present information on the new figure at the special meeting.
According to Young, 15 percent of the total project can be "put it to something other than energy."
Eric Hrin can be reached at (570) 297-5251; email: reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com.
