RUHS’s $10M Repair Project
To Be Voted in November
By Sandy Vondrasek Cooch

It’s taken more than two years of study committees, consultations, and revisions, but Randolph Union High School board members are now sounding confident that they have the right school repair package to present to voters.

At their May 9 meeting, members of the building committee recommended holding a $10-million bond vote in November. The proposed project, if approved by voters, would put a new, insulated roof on the entire high school/technical center complex, along with other safety, electrical, and access improvements.

And, although conventional wisdom has it that postponing construction adds significantly to costs, members of the committee indicated that, in this case, the delay might just result in savings.

"We haven’t been hurt by not moving more quickly," RUHS Principal John Holmes told the board.

Holmes noted that Cathy Hilgendorf, the state Dept. of Education’s school construction funding expert, advised the committee that a slow-down in construction this year is resulting in more competitive bidding on projects.

Holmes noted that there were only two bidders for a recently completed school repair project at Williamstown High School, whereas projects put out to bid this year were attracting as many as 22 bidders.

Also, by hiring a project manager, Grant Fleming, and working closely with construction experts, the building committee succeed in shaving millions of dollars off the repair project, as first proposed by an architectural firm.

One example: The industry experts inked in $1 million for a new elevator; the committee has come up with a rehab option that will cost no more that $80,000. (See below.)

Costs for the so-called "Option 6" package of repairs, first pegged in the fall of 2005 at more than $14 million by an architectural consultant, swelled to $23 million, in an estimate put together last spring by a Burlington-based construction firm.

Last summer, the board members decided to limit the project to $10-million and they have managed to stick to that limit.

"We are saving money, because we found a different way (to do the work)," commented board member Mike Van Dyke.."

At the building committee’s April 25 meeting with Hilgendorf, RUHS got approval from the state to go forward with the project, Holmes reported.

More important, she assured the committee that RUHS is in the queue for receiving state reimbursement—estimated 30% of costs at RUHS and up to 50% for work at RTCC—for the project. However, because of a huge backlog in school funding commitments, it could take 12 to 15 years to receive the reimbursement.

That news came as a relief, as earlier in the year the legislature had considered putting a halt on all school construction until that backlog was paid off.

RUHS officials had already anticipated some delay in reimbursements and had been planning, from the beginning, to seek bonding approval from voters for the entire $10-million.

Principal Holmes noted that Hilgendorf also advised, "Don’t let anyone tell you it’s cheaper to build new."

That’s because new building materials are of lower quality—for example with sheetrock walls instead of cement block ones—and more money is needed for repairs.

Building committee members are presently interviewing architects for the project.

Summer Projects

Also at its May 9 meeting, the RUHS board agreed to go ahead this summer with two significant building improvements, the elevator upgrade and converting the cafeteria kitchen from electric to gas.

Board members voted unanimously to spend up to $80,000 on the elevator project, and up to $55,000 to buy the new kitchen equipment.

A building maintenance fund, which has been funded by surpluses in recent RUHS operating budgets, will be tapped for the two projects.

It was noted that the kitchen conversion will have a double payback, in that it will eliminate high "peak" electricity usage charges, and the need to do a major wiring/transformer upgrade in that part of the school.

The board was scheduled to hear a building project update at its regular meeting, last night, June 13.