Keystone Central facilities committee outlines maintenance priorities; Mill Hall HVAC and field water top list

The Keystone Central School District Facilities Committee met Aug. 26 to review a districtwide maintenance plan and identify immediate priorities for the 2025–26 school year, with failed rooftop HVAC units at Mill Hall Elementary, potable water access for athletic fields, and multiple building repairs topping the list.

Committee leadership and facilities staff said the Mill Hall Elementary building currently has three rooftop HVAC units that have failed; two of the failed units were shorting out and causing electrical outages in parts of the building. Sam, facilities staff, told the committee Mill Hall is the highest priority and that his initial approach is to replace condenser sections rather than full rooftop shells where possible to limit cost. "My plan for Mill Hall is I don't want to replace the whole rooftop unit right now if we don't have to. If we can just replace the condenser unit and save the shell...That's my plan," Sam said.

Committee members pressed staff for fallback plans if units fail during cold weather. Sam said the district maintains spare portable HVAC units he described as capable of about 14,000 BTU cooling and 11,000 BTU heating per unit, and that the district keeps a stock of spares to deploy classroom-by-classroom if needed. "We have plenty of spare portable HVAC units, and they are heating and cooling," Sam said, noting portable units are noisy and a short-term measure.

The facilities plan presented to the committee lists several other projects and approximate cost estimates. The district has an annual allocation of $200,000 for concrete work; staff reported spending about $76,000 on the middle-school project and carrying roughly $124,000 remaining in that allotment. A warehouse roof replacement has been approved and purchase orders issued. A previously discussed pool-equipment storage pole barn (listed at $800,000 in earlier plans) is under re-evaluation; staff said using a local contractor could reduce that estimate to about $400,000.

Athletic-field water access at the Bucktail sports complex in Mill Hall was a separate, detailed topic. Staff said the district previously planned to tap a municipal water line but Renova-area water authorities have reconsidered doing the connection. As an alternative, the district is exploring drilling a well to supply nonpotable irrigation water; estimated costs provided in the meeting included $6,000–$8,000 to drill a well, roughly $5,000 for a pump shed, and additional piping and hydrant work that could add up to the tens of thousands. Sam noted a drilled well would supply nonpotable water for field irrigation; potable drinking water for student use would require either locating and tapping the municipal water line or a separate solution. "No. If we drill a well, it's going to be non potable water," Sam said.

Committee members also discussed a letter the district received from Mill Hall Borough that holds the district accountable for rags and grease discharged into the local sanitary system. Facilities staff said grease traps at three district kitchens were cleaned in June and inspected by a septic vendor from Bellefonte, who reported the traps "were in good working order" and "fairly clean for what they normally see." The solicitor, David Lindsay, drafted the district's response to the borough's letter and staff said they supplied the vendor report and a maintenance schedule in reply.

Other projects on the district's maintenance list include renovate the Family and Consumer Science (FCS) classroom at the high school, upgrades at tennis courts (including adding a permanent restroom to avoid ongoing porta-potty rentals), numerous rooftop and unit repairs at Woodward Elementary, and sidewalk repairs flagged by Mill Hall Borough. Staff reported Hoffman Leakey has been engaged to produce final engineering drawings for the FCS classroom and expects four weeks to complete drawings that will be used for contractor bidding. The meeting noted the $200,000 for the FCS classroom had previously been approved.

Finance constraints framed much of the discussion. Staff provided an inventory of projects with about $964,000 in items already approved or funded for the fiscal year and a larger, earlier 10-year tally that totaled roughly $2.37 million. Committee and finance staff said the district lacks capacity to add the full list to the current budget and will need to sequence projects, consider piecemeal per-unit HVAC replacements, or reallocate funds. "We can't add this onto our budget because we just don't have any capacity to do that," a finance staff participant told the committee.

The committee directed staff to obtain per-unit quotes for HVAC replacements (to allow piecemeal work as funds permit), gather contractors' estimates for the well/piping options at the Bucktail complex, and prepare a concise priorities list for the full board showing unfunded items and recommended next steps. Staff said they will return quotes for Mill Hall HVAC, Woodward estimates, and other open bids at the next board agenda.

Committee members also highlighted the local career and technical center (CTC) program and recent hires from Central Mountain High School as a positive outcome of district workforce partnerships, noting three CTC graduates were working on a Mill Hall sidewalk job. Committee leadership asked staff to present the higher-priority items plainly in the facilities minutes and next board packet so the full board can weigh funding tradeoffs.

The Facilities Committee ended the meeting without formal votes on new spending; staff will return with quotes and proposed funding options for the board to consider.