Quakertown ad hoc committee discusses salvaging historic elements, contractor proposal offers $3,000

An ad hoc committee of the Quakertown Community School District met to identify items from the QE building that might be salvaged before demolition and to set procedures for handling requests from alumni and community groups.

Jamie Lynch, project manager for CHA and construction manager on the QE renovation, told the committee the district commonly retrieves exterior dedication plaques and historic date stones — she cited a 1967 stone and a 1928 stone — and suggested those be reinstalled in the new building or placed elsewhere at the board’s discretion. “There are existing dedication plaques in the building,” Lynch said.

Lynch said a salvage company from Perkasie inspected QE and submitted a proposal listing items it would retrieve and offered $3,000 to the district for that work. “They have a list of what they would like to retrieve. And, in return, they’ve offered $3,000 to the district for, that work,” Lynch said. The committee discussed vetting the company’s insurance and licensing; Lynch said the firm had handled similar school projects.

Committee members and staff discussed interior salvage possibilities — ornamental entrance masonry, some ornamental ventilator grills, and sections of sentimental woodwork — and cautioned that large items such as the school scoreboards would be difficult to reuse. Lynch said some items are fragile or already damaged and would require careful removal and storage, noting that retrieved materials would need secure storage during the roughly 24-month construction period.

Nonprofit partners were raised as potential recipients of reusable fixtures. An unnamed committee member said Habitat for Humanity and similar groups had expressed interest in toilets, sinks and windows that could be repurposed for housing. “They would be interested in toilet sinks, windows, potentially...used to build housing for people in need,” the member said. Lynch proposed a contractor-coordinated transfer — the general contractor would stage specified items outside, and the nonprofit would load them — to reduce liability and logistic complications.

Committee members asked whether salvage opportunities must be publicly advertised and debated differing threshold figures cited during the meeting; the facilitator asked Miss Young and the district solicitor to confirm procurement and advertising requirements by email before the next meeting. The committee also discussed a possible liability waiver for volunteers working on fragile items and agreed that contractor scope should address asbestos/lead-abatement and worker protections for more hazardous retrievals.

Jamie Lynch said the project team expects to harvest brick from QE and recommended setting aside a pallet for community members or for a commemorative display in the new school. A member of the public who spoke during the meeting pointed out damage to an entry header bearing the phrase “enter to learn, leave to serve,” and asked whether that element could be salvaged or recreated; Lynch said the design team could reproduce the lettering in some form.

The committee set immediate follow-ups: staff will circulate the list of identified items and photos that Lynch said she has already provided; the solicitor will be asked to clarify procurement/advertising thresholds and whether items already in district storage are covered by the QE-specific resolution; and the committee will draft a formal request process for community requests. No formal motions or votes were recorded at the meeting.

The committee plans to publish an agenda before the next meeting and to return with the solicitor’s guidance and the circulated item list.