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School board approves $180,000 facilities assessment and 3-year capital-planning service
Summary
The Burlington Area School District board approved a three-year contract with McKinstry to produce a facilities condition assessment and to deliver a living capital-planning dashboard to help prioritize building repairs and budgets.
The Burlington Area School District Board of Education voted to approve a three-year facilities assessment and capital-planning engagement with McKinstry, not to exceed $180,000, split across the current and next fiscal year.
Board members said the assessment and an interactive “Reveal” capital-planning dashboard will give administrators a data-driven view of building and equipment needs and help prioritize scarce maintenance dollars.
McKinstry, a national engineering and facilities consultant, will perform on-site inspections of major mechanical, electrical and structural assets, upload the results to a web-based dashboard, and provide year-by-year budgeting tools and ongoing support. Chris Jones, senior account executive with McKinstry, told the board the goal is to “help the district adopt and implement a data-driven approach to capital planning and facilities planning much like the district already does on the instructional side.”
Tyler, McKinstry program manager, demonstrated the dashboard with an example district. The tool assigns a facility-condition index and scores individual assets — from air-handling units to flooring — by condition, classroom impact and energy use. The system can group replacement costs into a 10-year projection and then recommend which projects to fund given an annual budget.
Jess Warren, BASD director of buildings and grounds, said the district chose McKinstry after meeting multiple vendors and wanting an independent assessment that would not require the firm to be the prime contractor on future work. Warren told the board the district will retain control of contracting for any projects the assessment recommends.
Board members asked about scope and frequency. McKinstry said field teams will inspect critical systems and sample lower-priority items; they will attach QR codes and photographs to assets, track maintenance history and reprice costs annually to reflect market changes. The firm said it can later perform a staffing-skills analysis if the district requests it as an additional service.
The motion passed after a roll call; the board approved option 1 — a full asset inventory, dashboard build-out and two additional years of planning support — with payment split between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 budgets.
The district plans a workshop for board members once the dashboard is populated so trustees can review the district’s capital priorities and long-term funding needs.
