Aging boilers, leaky roofs and rotting doors in K-L school buildings are among the capital improvement projects recommended by KG&D architects after their recent survey of the district's six schools.

The state-mandated building condition survey resulted in the firm's preparation of a five-year capital plan with a $30 million price tag. The plan includes a prioritized list of repair, renovation or replacement projects—in addition to an overall rating—for each of the district's six buildings.

Overall, said Russell Davidson, lead architect for the survey and plan, the buildings are well maintained. "You've been doing a good job with capital projects, and are definitely not in the worst shape."

Critical projects

Each building was rated "satisfactory" condition with the exception of John Jay Middle School. KG&D was required to rate it as "unsatisfactory" because of the school's original, 1960s-era boilers that have outlived their 25-year life expectancy—by about 25 years. However, the rating does not mean the building is unsafe to inhabit, Davidson emphasized.

"We are required to rate it as such when any health and safety item has outlived its useful life," he said.

Any projects that were "life and safety" related were tagged as a Priority 1; health and property-related was categorized as a 2; priority 3 was used for projects that were related to age, preventative maintenance or town code and priority 4 was for desirable, but not necessary, upgrades.

Notable recommendations include:

• In addition to the middle school, Increase Miller and Meadow Pond Elementary schools also have original boilers—from 1963 and 1967, respectively—that need to be replaced.
• JJMS, John Jay High School, Katonah Elementary, Lewisboro Elementary and Increase Miller have foam roofing that leaks and need to be recoated or replaced.
• The glazed brick ad JJMS has had sections "popping off" the last 20 years due to weather and needs to be replaced.
• The public address and clock systems at KES need to be replaced.
• Emergency lighting needs to be improved upon at 5 of 6 schools in order to meet current code.

Financing

Over the last 3-4 years, the district has spent about $15 million on capital projects, including water treatment plans paid for by the state and paving work, according to Michael Jumper, assistant superintendent of business.

Going forward, Jumper said, the district could look at a three-pronged approach: Traditional bond financing; energy performance contracting—whereby the project is funded through energy savings—and using using available funds in captial reserves to pay for the most critical projects, while phasing in additional work as the districts's debt service significantly falls off.

Twenty-five percent of the project would qualify for New York State building aid.

State law requires the district to accept a five-year capital plan and complete the highest priority work—but not all of the work, said Davidson. "It matters less here, where you pay with more local funds, but the state ensures that the highest priority work would be done before, say, new science labs would be installed."

Board member Michael Gordon said he was uncomfortable voting on a plan without details on what types of work fell under each priority category. Due to a clerical error the board couldn't take a vote on accepting the plan and its adoption was tabled until the next meeting. 

Neil Cutler, a member of the district's sustainability committee, encouraged the board to think long-term.

"Think of these improvements as long range, for our children’s children," he said. "Think of the heating system that 50 years from now needs to function efficiently. Think also of improving costs around heat and water and the side benefit of improving the productivity of students and teachers who are more comfortable. Think of the improvement of 20 percent costs and 20 percent comfort."