BASD reviews buildings and grounds year, approves Siemens controls work and partial boiler replacements

The Burlington Area School District on May 12 received a year‑end recap from Jess Warren, the district’s director of buildings and grounds, and approved two capital actions: a Siemens building‑controls upgrade for Burlington High School not to exceed $88,500 and replacement of three of six boilers at the high school at a cost not to exceed $175,957.

Warren told the board the district maintains roughly 700,000 square feet and 276 acres across six schools and supporting properties and operates with a buildings-and-grounds crew “around 20 to 25 custodians” plus a small engineering and grounds team. He described 2024–25 work including a $375,000 food‑service servery renovation at the high school funded from Fund 50, concrete and gym repairs, a camera/door control takeover at the 496 Building the district will assume July 1, and a private‑funded renovation of Cooper Montessori that cost about $185,000 in donated funds and labor.

Warren said the Siemens contract is the next phase of a multi‑year building automation upgrade and estimated a full district upgrade would total “between $500,000 and $600,000.” He said the specific $88,500 request covers unit ventilator and VAV controls in the next section of the high school’s system. Board members were told that older controllers can cause temperature control failures and, in winter, risk freezing coils.

On boilers, Warren explained the high school has six original boilers roughly 25 years old; one failed a heat exchanger earlier this year. The board approved contracting to replace three boilers to restore half of the boiler plant and ensure a reliable heat source for next winter. Warren described longer‑term options that could include more efficient condensing boilers but said the immediate work is to return the plant to reliable operation.

Warren also described an electrical‑monitoring project (referred to as "Data Wrangler" devices) added to kitchen services that allow the district to bill electrical use to Fund 50 during food‑service hours. He said about $97,000 was offset to Fund 50 at Karcher and the high school over the first year, another $15,000 has been realized in the last three months as the devices rolled out to grade schools, and the district projects roughly $140,000 in annual savings once fully deployed.

Board discussion included staffing and equipment constraints (outsourcing the high‑school parking lot snow removal because the district lacks three additional plow trucks and operators) and the need to phase large automation work over multiple years because of cost. The board approved both the Siemens TEC phase and the boiler replacement motions by voice vote.

The facilities director also presented a 2025–26 capital projects list (within a $500,000 capital budget made possible after passage of an operational referendum) that includes sidewalk grinding, gym curtain replacement, staircase and railing repairs at the Fox River Consortium building, HVAC bearing replacements at Waller, and door/camera system integration at the 496 Building.