Board reviews facilities audit and four-phase master plan built from Ameresco assessment

Lee Fuller, the district’s director of business affairs, presented the results of a facilities audit conducted with Ameresco and outlined a proposed four-phase master facilities plan intended to address building-condition deficits across South Euclid-Lyndhurst City School District.

Fuller said Ameresco performed a full facilities audit "at no cost to the district" and assigned letter grades to each building; when averaged across buildings the district-level grade was roughly a C. The audit catalogued upgrades, replacement costs, building age and square footage and produced fund-allocation targets that Fuller used to propose phased investments intended to allocate resources where needs are greatest.

Fuller summarized the proposed phases and priorities: - Phase 1 (immediate, smaller-cost work using leftover PI funds): fix comfort issues and heating valves at Brush High School, address water-penetration problems that have left Brush’s third floor (about 4,000 square feet) unused, and repair failing roofs at several sites. Fuller said phase 1 was designed to be executed without going to voters because it would use existing PI funds. - Phases 2–4 (each described in the presentation as roughly $14 million at the planning-level): Phase 2 priorities include renovating the performing arts center, creating preschool space at Southland to relieve K–3 crowding, and other district facilities needs. Phase 3 focuses on HVAC replacements and district tuckpointing, including boiler upgrades and piping work. Phase 4 would address larger mechanical plant replacements, district-wide roof replacements and restorations, elevator replacements, exterior door priorities and interior finishes.

Fuller explained how Ameresco’s scoring produced fund-allocation targets by combining building square footage percentages and the percentage of identified upgrade needs. He gave Brush as an example: Brush comprises about 38.2% of district square footage, was assigned about 43.93% of upgrade need in the audit, and therefore a fund-allocation target around 41.6% across the plan. Fuller said the four phases are intended to net out to the audit’s allocation targets.

Board members asked for lifecycle information to help taxpayers understand how long replacements would last; Fuller said the plan and the district’s staggered PI financing are intended to spread costs over roughly a 10–15 year timeframe and that some financing (a TAN) is timed to be paid off around 2030–2031 to free funds for later phases. Fuller also noted that Ameresco’s HVAC project savings could potentially accelerate implementation.

Fuller requested board approval to publish a master facilities plan webpage to provide transparent access to the audit and phasing so community members can review cost and need information; board members broadly supported posting the material and framed it as a transparency measure for voters ahead of any levy or ballot measure.

Ending: Fuller closed by asking for continued stakeholder engagement and board feedback as the district moves toward implementation of phase 1. No formal vote to commit to bond or levy funding was recorded at the meeting.