The Cooperstown Central School district will move forward with an approximately $5 million capital project proposal set to go before voters early in 2007.

The school board decided Tuesday during a work session to move forward with a "bare bones" project that is significantly scaled back from the more than $20 million project which was voted down in December 2005.

The project proposal includes approximately $2.1 million worth of work at the middle/high school, $2.4 million at the elementary school and $724,400 at the bus garage, totaling approximately $5.2 million.

Advertisment

"This is a realistic number based upon realistic work," said superintendent Mary Jo McPhail. She said the project includes the work "we absolutely should do to make the facility safer and more efficient."

Architect John Knudson said the project's cost was based on figures provided for last year's capital project and five-year capital plan and would need to be re-evaluated, as prices may have changed since then. The final figures and a project summary will be provided in a mailing to all district voters later this year.

The board discussed holding a referendum on the project in the fall, but decided they did not want to rush it out the door without further input from the public.

The work in this project was picked because the items are identified in the district's five-year capital plan as priorities and are necessary improvements required for health, safety and energy efficiency reasons, board president Anthony Scalici said.

At the middle/high school, major costs include upgrades to the air-handling, ventilation, exhaust and relief systems ($505,300), replacement of the HVAC control system ($312,500), replacement of windows ($231,300) and improvements to the kitchen and serving area ($125,000).

Figures provided by the architect also indicate $449,000 would be used to renovate the locker rooms for Americans with Disability Act compliance, but Knudson said he had to recheck that number.

The HVAC system replacement would enable the school to better control temperature in individual rooms and Knudson estimated the school would save five to 10 percent on their energy costs each year, a savings of $10,000 to $20,000.

Changes in the kitchen and serving area would include an exterior walk-in freezer, upgrades to kitchen equipment and renovations to the kitchen's interior.

At the elementary school, the major costs include replacement of the old pumps and heating system ($1.2 million), upgrades to the original boilers in the 1954 and 1969 wings ($225,900), upgrades to the air handling and ventilation equipment ($220,700), installation of a 2-stop elevator required for ADA compliance ($210,000) and demolition and removal of Kid City ($200,000).

The most significant difference in this project compared to the previous capital project comes with the reduction of work at the bus garage. The previous capital project would have resulted in demolition of the current facility and construction of an entirely new bus garage at a cost of nearly $5 million. The new project features renovations of the current facility totaling $724,400.

Major items at the bus garage include replacement of the storage wing roof ($204,000), replacement of the heating and ventilation system ($129,000) and installation of an additional lift inside the garage ($125,000).

Although the project's financing has yet to be finalized, business manager Jim Collison said the local share of the project would be approximately $1.17 million, with an impact on the tax levy of about 1.25 percent.

Rick Hulse, one of four members of the public present at the work session and a member of a concerned citizens group opposed to last year's proposal, said he would be inclined to support this "responsible, equitable proposal."

"I think it makes sense," he said. "I think this is what we were looking for last year." Hulse said the board needed to explain this project better when communicating with the public, explaining what the bottom line is and what benefit each item will provide the district.