Newburgh City School District details emergency repairs, procurement thresholds and capital timelines

District staff described how the Newburgh City School District handles after-hours facility emergencies, how vendor selection and bidding work, and progress on multiple capital projects, including locker-room renovations and the CTE addition.

The district’s facilities staff told the facilities committee that after-hour calls typically come through alarm companies or local police and are routed to an on-call vendor list so crews can secure school buildings and restore safe conditions. "If it's a plumbing emergency, we have plumbers and electrician in house. If it's something big like a boiler, we have contractors that are on state contract," said Andy, a district staff member. He described calling available vendors and, if needed, notifying the superintendent and school principals so they can respond on site.

The meeting examined how the district chooses vendors and when purchases must go to formal bid. "We do try to use local vendors when we can for small stuff," Andy said, explaining the district favors local businesses for routine supplies and projects but must follow state purchasing rules for larger expenditures. Andy later said the formal bid threshold is $19,999. "It's $19.99. 19 thousand 9 hundred and 90 9 dollars," he said, adding the district monitors multi-year costs so projects do not unexpectedly trigger bidding requirements.

Committee staff also described how the district classifies and funds emergencies. A staff member said if an emergency repair exceeds the district’s internal threshold, the district will "bring it to the board to declare an emergency" and may use reserve funds to make repairs immediately and address reimbursement later. That staff member tied the goal of emergency response to school operations: "What the goal is ultimately to do is to ensure that we can open the building," they said, adding building principals and assistant superintendents are notified to facilitate next-day instruction.

On capital projects, staff provided a multi-site update. The locker-room renovation work awarded to Iron Sword is underway; staff reported demolition and abatement are complete and that contractors have removed an exterior wall and installed temporary protections. "They're midway through the demolition. We've already done all of the abatement work," a projects staff member said. The district expects substantial completion of the locker-room work around Nov. 4 with final closeout by January.

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) addition is advancing on schedule, staff said, with much of the gym roof and steel framing in place and an anticipated substantial completion date of July 31 to allow move-in and testing before program startup in February. District staff gave a total anticipated cost for the CTE-related program and associated work of about $87,000,000, with contingencies remaining "over $5,000,000," a projects staff member said. Staff noted the largest change order to date resulted from unforeseen unsuitable soils.

New Windsor (Cleveland Heritage) work is in progress but has encountered procurement difficulty: for a second time the district received no bids for phase two site contracts and is now trying to negotiate with contractors "as per the advice of counsel," a projects staff member said. Staff also reported that the State Education Department (SED) has reviewed and returned comments on SED submittals and that most comments have been cleared, with the remaining reviews expected to be finished by the end of the month.

Other items discussed included building-condition planning and roof repairs. District staff reviewed the Building Condition Survey cycle required by the state education department and said the next BCS is scheduled for the 2025–26 school year; staff said the district has asked about doing the survey early to support capital planning. Staff flagged an immediate roof issue at the district print shop (Chestnut building) that staff said dates to a 1978 roof installation; a vendor on state contract provided a preliminary price just under $200,000 and staff said they will request a budget transfer to cover the repair.

Staff also noted the district applied for geothermal grants but said final application steps and grant approval depend on the upcoming budget vote. "We have to wait for the budget vote," a staff member said; only after the budget is approved would the district complete grant applications and the state would determine award decisions.

The facilities committee briefly reviewed completed items: an emergency concrete replacement and a circulation/queue-lane project are in closeout, and the district reported running under budget on several workstreams. The meeting closed after a motion to adjourn the facilities committee.

The committee indicated follow-up items: board consideration of emergency declarations and budget transfers, final approvals on locker and HVAC control purchases on that night’s docket, and negotiations or rebidding for a New Windsor phase where no bids were received.