STC directors devise formula for dividing cost of new roofs – Republican & Herald

MAR LIN On Monday night, the board of directors of Schuylkill County Area Vocational-Technical School took a step toward replacing the roofs of the Schuylkill Technology Center buildings in Frackville and Mar Lin.

The board devised a formula to determine how much each of the 12 school districts in Schuylkill County will put into the project thats expected to cost more than $3.1 million. The board approved a motion to send the recommendation to school boards for approval.

The plan is based on 66.667 percent of a districts market value and 33.333 percent of student enrollment budget at STC, Brian A. Manning, business manager at Schuylkill IU 29, said.

With the formula, school districts would contribute the following amounts:

Blue Mountain, $605,655.26

Mahanoy Area, $139,683.89

Minersville Area, $194,465.34

North Schuylkill, $279,929.50

Pine Grove Area, $319,583.87

Pottsville Area, $400,901.79

Saint Clair Area, $137,956.02

Schuylkill Haven Area, $218,672.81

Shenandoah Valley, $120,135.28

Tamaqua Area, $421,052.15

Tri-Valley, $178,640.47

Williams Valley, $136,986.61

Its a middle ground, Manning said.

Previously, the board members discussed a formula of 75 percent market value and 25 percent STC budget enrollment, and 50 percent market value and 50 percent STC budget enrollment.

I spoke to almost all of my board members. They are receptive to a split of 66/33. They feel they didnt want to budge from 50/50, but they do see the need, Mary Jo Moss of Blue Mountain said.

Can we move forward on this tonight? Charles Chaz Hepler of North Schuylkill asked.

What were suggesting tonight, I believe, is that this board approve a recommendation to go out to the districts, James Caravan, solicitor for the STC board, said.

If all districts agree on the formula, the STC board can seek a contractor, Manning said. If they dont, discussions about the formula will continue.

Hepler made the motion to send out the boards recommendation. It was seconded by Larry A. Wittig of Tamaqua Area and carried unanimously in a roll call vote by board members present.

The others present were board President Scott Jacoby of Schuylkill Haven Area and members Helene Creasy of Shenandoah Valley, Roger Heidlebaugh of Tri-Valley, John Mika of Williams Valley, Gretchen Ulmer of Minersville Area, Jay Hanley of Mahanoy Area, Scott Thomas of Pottsville Area and Michael Holobetz of Saint Clair Area. David Frew of Pine Grove Area was absent.

Manning estimated the cost to replace roofs at STC-North, Frackville, and STC-South, Mar Lin, to be $3,153,663 and include capital repairs. The roof replacement at STC-North is estimated at $1,690,600; roof replacement at STC-South is $818,500; HVAC upgrades at both schools $539,563; and exterior masonry repairs at STC-South to be an estimated $105,000, Manning said.

In 2015, Robert McCarthy of international roofing manufacturer The Garland Company spoke to the board about the roofs. He provided an update Monday, particularly on the roof at STC-North.

He said, The roof is beyond its useful life. One of the challenges there is it doesnt drain well. Its supposed to be sloped to drains. Its a flat roof which doesnt slope. And theres quite a bit of ponding water. Its been a challenge. If it leaks in one of those areas, which it has, we get a deluge of water into the building.

In other matters, the board decided to hire CFM Commercial HVAC Inc., Orwigsburg, for emergency replacement of the HVAC system at STC-South. It will cost $83,895 and that will come from STCs budget, Manning said.

John Nabholz, facilities director at Schuylkill IU 29, made the recommendation. The system was installed in 1989 and Nabholz anticipated it would fail in the first week of the 2017-18 school year. A new unit will take eight weeks to install, he said.

Its a 30-year-old unit. Its limping. And I know darn well its going to die the first week of school. The districts are going to hear about it from parents and its going to come back on me. And if we wait until then, then that will take another eight weeks. We need to make a decision on this as soon as possible, Nabholz said.

Instead of bidding the project, the board unanimously decided to move forward Monday to hire CFM to do the work since it was considered an emergency. The project will include switching the power source from electricity to natural gas.

Contact the writer: spytak@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6011

See the original post here:
STC directors devise formula for dividing cost of new roofs - Republican & Herald