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Dixon USD 170 board approves 10-year health life safety review, prioritizes roofs and HVAC controls
Summary
The Dixon Board of Education approved a mandated 10-year health life safety review and discussed a phased plan to address urgent life-safety items—fire alarms, exit signs and limited roof and HVAC work—using existing health-life-safety levy funds and future levies.
The Dixon Board of Education on Wednesday approved the district's 10-year health life safety review and discussed a phased plan to address urgent life-safety items and higher-cost roof and HVAC projects.
The approval fulfills a state-mandated 10-year life-safety survey and authorizes the district to submit required amendments through the state IWAS system so prioritized repairs can proceed.
Bray Architects' Mark Miller, who led the survey, told the board the process "is the state-mandated 10-year survey of all the student facilities" and explained work is sorted into priority codes: A items must be completed within a year, B items are required within five years and C items are recommended. Miller said many items are routine—fire extinguishers, exit signs, emergency lighting and smoke detectors—but roofs and HVAC controls account for the bulk of the estimated cost.
Kevin Schultz, director of building and grounds, said the district already has about $800,000 in health-life-safety funds on hand and is collecting roughly $300,000 a year from the dedicated levy. "Working with Mr. Campbell, we have identified roughly about $50,000 of the A priorities and even some of the B priorities that we will be working on for this year once it gets approved through the state and the IWAS program," Schultz said. He said the district expects to complete many A and some B items before the start of school.
Board members and staff discussed the largest line items: Miller told the board the largest roof project (Reagan/Madison) is roughly $1 million and that HVAC controls and related systems are estimated with the roofs to total about $1.24 million of the review's $1.77 million estimate. Staff explained modern HVAC controls now can be installed with lower-cost wireless components and may be substantially less expensive than older hardwired systems.
Administrators said the district does not intend to borrow to fund the work and will seek to schedule projects over several years so the levy revenue and county facility sales tax can cover costs. The board was told that for project bidding, bundling larger scopes can improve pricing; at the same time some B-level items are expected to be completed in-house or by smaller contractors as funds permit.
The board approved the review by roll call vote with all members present voting aye.
District staff said the facilities assessment is a "living document" for planning; asbestos flooring identified in the East Hallway will be removed and replaced this summer under an existing SMPG grant, and the board will receive a prioritized 10-year roadmap at the July retreat to guide scheduling and budgeting for larger roof and HVAC projects.
