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Pawnee City board discusses HVAC replacement and possibility of a second gym
Summary
Board members heard a facilities update on replacing the high‑school gym HVAC with a VRF system, discussed alternatives and site tradeoffs, and asked staff for financing scenarios and bid documents to break out equipment and piping costs.
Board members at the Pawnee City Public Schools meeting discussed options to replace the high‑school gym's aging HVAC system and considered whether to pursue adding a second gym as part of any larger facilities plan. The presenter advised asking bidders to break out costs for equipment and for hard‑piping (copper) so the district can compare prices or pursue a design‑build contract.
The presenter told the board the existing plans could be reused for permitting with modest markups and that asking bidders to provide separate line items would likely produce the best price. “We can tell them to bid the 2, and then we can get an equipment list for your VRFs and ask them to bid the equipment replacement with the new system with the hard pipe copper specification,” the presenter said (Board member, speaker 1).
Board members weighed tradeoffs between prioritizing cooling and adding new square footage. One board member asked, “What is the probability of and what would it look like to consider building a second gym?” (Board member, speaker 3). Participants said athletic scheduling pressures (wrestling and basketball) make a second gym attractive but that site constraints and cost make it a longer‑term consideration.
The presenter warned that alternative approaches — such as individual classroom units or switching to electric heating — could raise operating costs substantially. The presenter estimated that if the district only addressed mechanical repairs, components such as a boiler connection loop could cost on the order of tens of thousands of dollars (the presenter cited a figure of about $60,000 for a boiler loop and another roughly $10,000 for motor replacements). He also advised the board that equipment life for the current type of units can be shorter than the designed 20 years depending on how the system is used.
The board asked staff to return with financing options and updated estimates (including scenarios for a half‑million dollar package if the board chose to add cooling without a bond). The presenter said he would prepare a written recommendation and price estimates and the board agreed to keep the item on a future standing agenda for new members to review and weigh in.
Next steps: staff will produce marked‑up plans, separate bid line items for equipment versus piping, and financing scenarios for board consideration.
