District details $100K-scale upgrades and dozens of repairs: bleachers, sealcoating, ADA and HVAC work highlighted

The Wallingford-Swarthmore facilities committee heard a cluster of safety and maintenance updates on March 19, including a $90,500 estimate to retrofit high‑school bleachers, a planned parking-lot sealcoat and striping project, turnkey concession-stand repairs and a set of HVAC and equipment repairs identified in a CM3 facilities study.

Why it matters: Several of these projects address student and spectator safety (bleachers, ADA access and pool dehumidification) and will factor into the district’s near-term capital and maintenance spending decisions.

Bob, facilities staff member, told the committee a vendor estimate of $90,500 had come in to retrofit the high‑school bleachers, with much of the cost covering wheel and spindle replacement, bent metal locks and prop seating. He said an itemized breakdown shows omitting seat replacement would save only about $10,000, so staff recommended completing the full retrofit.

Seal coating and striping of the middle‑school parking lot is at 95% of RFP readiness; staff said the work could cost roughly $80,000–$100,000 depending on the asphalt index and will include line striping, fire lanes and curb markings. Staff said the work would cover the main parking areas and extend behind the Spencer House to the old tenant parking area.

Concession-stand work includes removal of carpeting, new roll-up steel doors (estimated at about $10,000) and patio repairs. Facilities staff described a plan for a stacked-stone retaining wall, leveling and asphalt paving of the patio area, new fencing and an ADA ramp from the visitor side to improve access between the stands and the restrooms. Staff projected an RFP could go out within about five weeks.

Athletic scoreboards: Electric trenching for a new left‑field baseball scoreboard is complete and the district is awaiting Casey Signs to set the structure; staff estimated scoreboard relocation cost at about $14,000 plus roughly $3,000 for electric. The softball scoreboard needed a new Wi‑Fi module; staff said the supplier ordered the part and expected the board to be operational within about a week to 10 days.

Elevator and boilers: Facilities staff reported a recent elevator controller failure; a replacement controller arrived and technicians are adding safety switches and performing rewiring, with the goal of passing state inspection after the work. For boilers, the district reported a drop in gas pressure that prevents running both boilers at once; technicians and the vendor are returning to troubleshoot the gas pressure and regulate the diaphragm and gauge.

CM3 retrocommissioning and other deferred repairs: Bob said the CM3 study identifies roughly 183 repairs focused on the high school (air handlers, heating coils and related systems) and that many of those are priority items staff wants to complete while school is not in session. Irrigation for athletic fields was estimated at about $40,000 per field to install controllers, booster pumps, piping and heads.

Ending: Committee members supported advancing the work to procurement steps and asked staff to proceed with RFPs where appropriate. No binding budget approvals were recorded in the committee transcript; most projects were described as moving to bidding or to the next procurement stage.