District to replace boilers and move ahead on auditorium, modular and chiller work after building-site review

Chippewa Valley Schools officials described several planned facilities projects at the district’s April 28 building and site meeting, including replacement of failing boilers at Chippewa Valley High School, repair work at Dakota High School’s auditorium, finish work on Ottawa modular classrooms, and potential replacement of older chillers at Wyandotte. The board later voted to approve the district’s April change-order summary report and to award the boiler contract.

The district’s facilities representative said emergency auditorium lighting at Dakota High School has suffered recurring failures. Work to correct the problem revealed an undersized transformer and damaged lamp sockets; the district plans to replace the transformer with a higher-capacity unit and to submit a change order for socket replacements. The work was described as inconvenient to perform while students use the space; staff said they plan to begin intrusive work in June and expect the auditorium lighting repairs to finish in roughly two weeks once they start.

Committee members also reviewed three change-order items tied to the Ottawa modular classrooms. The district previously had to use the modular lease company’s plumber to add toilet rooms. Now that the district owns the units, staff solicited alternate contractors and said they were able to lower the cost, producing what the presenter described as almost a $10,000 net deduct versus the earlier lease-company pricing. One change reduces trenching by locating an InstaHot water heater inside the modular; that will require a small amount of electrical work but was described as a more efficient long-term solution.

At Chippewa Valley High School, facilities staff recommended replacing three boilers that are failing on a regular basis. The boilers were installed around the time of an early-2000s addition and have been exposed to corrosive pool-area air that has shortened component life. The district sought competitive bids and reported a low base bid of $336,000. Staff said the contract allows two acceptable piping options and recommended paying an extra $5,000 for welded piping rather than metallic fittings because welded work should last longer in the corrosive environment; the presenter noted the welded option still left the low bid roughly $20,000 lower than the next bidder. Staff told the committee the new boilers are expected to last “25 to 30 years” in the district’s conditions and recommended completing procurement and installation this summer. The board later approved funds to proceed; installation lead time was described as about four to six weeks with roughly a four-week installation window.

The committee also discussed chillers at Wyandotte, which staff said are more than 20 years old and beginning to show hard-to-source failures. Staff recommended replacing at least one chiller this year and said they are gathering pricing to replace two if budget allows. The district reported a buying opportunity through an existing cooperative that could deliver a readily-available chiller at considerably lower cost than a custom-ordered unit — staff characterized the available unit as costing about $70,000 compared with “a hundred and some thousand” dollars for a new order and called that a substantial savings. Staff said the district could salvage parts from a replaced chiller for use as spare parts on the remaining unit, and that they will formally bid installation work later before returning to the full board for final contract awards.

Committee members discussed disposal of retired boilers and chillers; facilities staff said contractors typically remove old equipment for scrap and the labor to dismantle and remove rooftop and mezzanine-mounted equipment means salvage values are generally a wash.

Why it matters: the approved work addresses recurring heating and cooling failures that are affecting classrooms and a gym/pool area and is scheduled to occur this summer to reduce disruption. Up-front choices about piping and equipment type were presented as life-cycle cost decisions that the district said will reduce future maintenance costs.

Speakers quoted in the meeting were district facilities staff and school principals; no claim of external approvals beyond the board’s award was made. The Wyandotte chiller purchase is currently a staff recommendation and was discussed for future board action, while the Chippewa Valley High School boiler award was brought to the full board for approval.