District construction update: West gym roof work set for June; camera installs at Proviso West delayed pending light-pole replacements

Proviso Township High School District 209’s construction manager reported contracts are in place for the West main gym roof replacement and crews are scheduled to mobilize June 9, with demolition beginning in June and a substantial-completion target of Aug. 4, according to a construction update delivered at the March facilities meeting. The district also paused a set of camera installations at Proviso West after crews determined several light poles in the parking lot were deteriorated and need replacement before cameras can be mounted.

Bertha Vang, the construction manager, said the roofing subcontractor mobilization is expected the week of June 9, stair towers will be built in the first part of the job, demolition of the main gym roof will start in June and the roofing work is planned to be complete by July 28. Vang added new skylights are scheduled mid-June with a completion target of Aug. 1 and substantial completion of the overall roof project on Aug. 4.

Vang and other staff noted the Aug. 4 completion date falls close to the district’s registration period and asked principals and program leads to confirm whether activities can be staged or moved if necessary. Vang said the district had not received all material submittals at the time of the meeting and that technical submittals will be reviewed but not necessarily routed to district staff for technical approval.

On campus security cameras, the construction team said cabling had been pulled to several Proviso West light poles but installers discovered the poles and their access panels were degraded. The team recommended replacing the pole assemblies — including foundations and pedestals — before proceeding with camera installation. Vang said staff will provide pricing for pole replacement and lead times to district leaders (the transcript references submission to “Mr. Mogul,” “Dr. Gil” and “Mr. Kovaltes”).

The meeting also included preliminary discussion of automated license-plate reader (ALPR) software. A vendor and staff comparison was discussed, and one comment in the meeting quoted an annual license figure for an ALPR product as “about $2,025,000 dollars a year for about 4 cameras.” District staff asked for pricing for plate-reader options and said they would present it for administrative review.

Facilities staff reported ongoing punch-list and closeout work: Proviso West was reported as 100% complete in the project tracking software for listed punch-list items, while Proviso East was about 98% complete. The construction manager said remaining items at Proviso East include mechanical and controls work and a small number of remaining punch-list items being coordinated with Perkins+Will and Gilbane.

Mechanical and controls issues were discussed in detail. Facilities staff said they had added roughly 45 pounds of refrigerant to a VRF unit at Proviso West to restore function and that one heat exchanger on the unit is defective and leaking; they reported working with Midwest Supply and expected the corrective work to be completed by April 15. A separate rooftop unit serving a kitchen had a defective control board and contactor; the control and contactor were replaced and the unit tested.

Other operational items included keypad configuration work districtwide with Johnson Controls (JCI), stripe-and-pavement repairs scheduled for summer, and planned sidewalk and circle-drive reconstruction at Proviso East to address settled sidewalk and deteriorated asphalt. The circle-drive scope described in the meeting said the reconstruction would replace curb-to-curb paving and adjacent sidewalks, extending roughly to the westernmost canopy near the science-room bridge.

Staff also reported security and life-safety inventory updates: automated external defibrillator (AED) counts were given as 19 units at Proviso East, 15 at Proviso West and 6 at the Math and Science Academy, and the team said they plan to add three units to Proviso West, two to Proviso East and one to the academy. A request to add two speakers to each cafeteria kitchen (a Johnson Controls task) was discussed; staff estimated that work “about $11,000” and said they did not foresee a funding problem for that item.

Next steps noted in the meeting: facilities staff will provide pole-replacement estimates and lead times, refine ALPR pricing, proceed with material submittals for the roof project, continue punch-list closeout at Proviso East and coordinate mechanical repairs with vendors for completion in mid-April where possible.