Elizabethtown Area School District board members heard hour-long pitches Jan. 13 from three firms competing to carry out a planned HVAC renovation at East High Elementary, with the board set to choose a vendor at its Jan. 27 meeting.

Mister Gillis, chair of the facilities committee, framed the project as an energy-savings (ESCO) renovation funded in part by remaining proceeds from earlier construction and potentially by state grants. He told the board that the district must obligate those remaining funds within three years or face paying back accrued interest.

McClure Company presented a design-build approach led by senior mechanical engineer John Gunning. McClure emphasized that it “self-performs HVAC,” meaning it designs, installs and maintains systems in-house, and that it assists districts in pursuing grants and incentives. Gunning pointed to the Public School Facilities Improvement Grant, which he described as open in December with awards up to $5,000,000, and he said McClure had a high success rate securing similar grants for districts.

Rob Strickler, representing Quandl (also identified in the meeting as an integrated construction-and-energy firm), said his company would serve as the general contractor and construction manager, staff the project full-time with a superintendent and project manager, and bid subcontracted work to keep local dollars in the community. Quandl’s engineering lead, Sean Nicholson, described an Option C measurement approach — whole-building metering — and said the firm typically includes complimentary first-year measurement-and-verification for energy savings and offers optional longer-term reporting.

SiteLogic’s presentation, led by Damien Spar with technical detail from engineer David Hickey and president Rick Evans, walked through a range of solutions from targeted repairs and dedicated outdoor-air systems to full geothermal or water-source heat-pump systems. SiteLogic highlighted a performance-assurance program that monitors systems during the first year and, if guaranteed savings are not met, pays the difference in utility bills.

Board members used identical question sets with each presenter. Contractors consistently said the district would not need to hire a separate construction manager because each firm would provide on-site oversight; typical workmanship warranties were described as one year with manufacturer warranties extending coverage on equipment. Firms also described measurement-and-verification options that can run from one year to multi-year reporting, with associated costs negotiated in the final contract.

Mister Gillis told the board that materials previously distributed (August vendor packets) should be reviewed before the Jan. 27 selection meeting. The board did not vote on a contract at the workshop; that action is scheduled for the next regular meeting.

Why it matters: The chosen delivery model and financing (grants vs. local capital) will affect near-term tax and budget decisions and long-term energy costs for school facilities.