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Averill Park board approves emergency high-school PA replacement; capital project update shows savings and ahead-of-schedule work
Summary
The board approved an emergency project to replace an unreliable high-school public-address system over the summer, using an Omnia co-op contracting path to expedite state review. Officials also reported the $28.5 million 2021 capital program is about 70% complete, $3 million under budget and ahead by one year.
Averill Park, N.Y. — The Board of Education on May 6 approved an emergency capital project to accelerate replacement of the Averill Park High School public-address system after district staff found the existing system unreliable during emergency testing.
Tony, the district’s capital-projects representative from Mosaic and Energy Engineered Solutions, told the board the 30-year-old PA system “is unreliable, will not broadcast appropriately in different areas of the building. It’s sporadic.” The board voted to declare the PA work an emergency so the State Education Department (SED) will fast-track review and the district can award the work through the Omnia cooperative procurement path this summer.
Officials emphasized the emergency designation does not add new voter-approved funds. The PA replacement already sits within the voter-approved $39.9 million referendum tied to a separate multi-year project; declaring it an emergency moves the project to the front of the SED review queue so contractors can start work and the system can be online for the school year.
Tony gave a wide-ranging status report on the district’s longer-running $28.5 million capital program approved by voters in October 2021. He said the program is about 70% complete, with roughly $20 million spent through April 2025. Work completed to date includes security vestibules, roof restorations, fire alarm replacements, a new emergency generator at the high school and kitchen and mechanical upgrades across buildings. The team reported roughly $3 million in accrued savings on the project; about $2 million has been reallocated to additional work already underway and more than $1 million remains in reserve for a proposed phase 4 focused on career-and-technical-education (CTE) improvements.
District officials described summer 2025 as particularly busy: approximately $8.5 million of work is scheduled, and contractors must compress the schedule because full-scale work cannot begin until June 30 and must finish before the school year. The board’s facilities committee and district administration said they worked with Mosaic and contractors to tighten plans and reduce implementation risk.
Board members praised the project team’s pace and fiscal management. When asked whether declaring the PA system an emergency would increase cost, administrators said the move is intended to expedite approvals and contracting; “No additional cost. No increased cost,” the presentation said, describing the Omnia co-op award as a timing and procurement mechanism.
The emergency resolution was presented to the board and approved as part of the meeting’s resolutions (vote recorded as unanimous). District leaders said the PA replacement will be bid and executed this summer with the goal of being operational by the start of the school year.
