Kim Kirknock, an architect associate with BLD Architects, told the Effingham CUSD 40 school board that the district's 10-year Health Life Safety (HLS) survey identified a range of code and maintenance issues across six sites and flagged several items that may be eligible for state HLS funding.

"Every 10 years, schools in Illinois require to develop the safety survey report," Kirknock said, walking the board through the survey's three parts: existing conditions, updated plans and findings. The firm classified issues by urgency and listed code-required ("required") and recommended items for the district to address.

Among the largest costs, Kirknock said the gymnasium at one school contains asbestos-containing mastic beneath the wood floor and that abatement and related work to remove the floor and bleachers would be a "large-ticket" item. "The large item in there, is about 1,200,000.0, and that's related to the work in the gymnasium," she said. She described the removal as a friable abatement requiring full containment and temporary removal of equipment.

Kirknock also documented missing or blocked fire alarm devices, masonry deterioration and tuckpointing needs on exterior stone sills, water-damaged ceiling tiles (some likely linked to roof leaks), doors held open with wedges that defeat fire separations, and mechanical/storage areas used inappropriately as occupied spaces. She noted that some items previously identified on older reports remain in the new record and that cost estimates include a 10% contingency and a typical 10% allowance for architect/engineer fees.

On rooftop HVAC systems, Kirknock outlined a hypothetical replacement scenario in which fully replacing multiple rooftop units could total in the low millions. "We don't anticipate, at least we hope and pray, the district would never be on the hook for $2,000,000 worth of HVAC upgrades right now," she said, but added that a single system replacement could cost roughly $500,000 to $700,000.

Kirknock told the board the report has been entered into the state system (referred to in the presentation as IOWAS/IWAS) and that the district can seek HLS funding through the regional office of education and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). "The next steps would be the district approving that the report is complete and then asking for an amendment to access health life safety dollars," she said. She added the architect would assist the district in responding to state questions and refining estimated costs as projects are developed.

Board members asked whether some findings were carryovers from prior reports; Kirknock said she checked older records and found a mix of carried-forward and newly identified issues. She emphasized that some large-number line items represent upper-end estimates and can be refined once project scopes are defined.

The presentation was informational; the board indicated it will discuss and later vote to approve the submitted report and, if desired, pursue amendments to request HLS funding. The architect said she will remain available for follow-up questions and to assist in the state review process.