BOCES tells Whitney Point board $40M project is in final stages; DOH inspection scheduled for Feb. 19

BOCES leaders briefed the Whitney Point Central School District board on administrative and capital budgets and provided a construction status update on the district's $40 million master facilities project.

"My name is Rebecca Stone and I'm a district superintendent at BOCES," Rebecca Stone said as she introduced the BOCES team and the materials they prepared for Whitney Point. Christie Choi, identified as an executive operations officer for BOCES, explained the cost-sharing method (RWADA) that allocates administrative and capital charges to districts and said the administrative budget is constrained by education law to four components: the board of education, the superintendent's office, human resources and the business office.

Choi said the November 2023 proposition authorized borrowing about $40,000,000 with $6,000,000 coming from local funds at the BOCES, and that the BOCES is phasing dormitory-authority payments to add about $800,000 across districts for several years to soften one-time increases in district budgets. For Whitney Point specifically, Choi said the combined administrative and capital net cost after projected aid is approximately $89,000 (projected), and she described purchases already made to support the expansion, including acquisition of an adjacent house to allow a back-of-campus addition after relocating operations and maintenance facilities.

On construction progress, the project presenter walked the board through photos and the remaining milestones for the pool and addition. The presenter said the Department of Health inspection is scheduled for Wednesday, February 19 at 10 a.m. and that the architect will submit documents to the State Education Department (NYSED) for a certificate of occupancy; their target is to receive documentation and move toward occupancy in the days following those reviews. "We're steadily looking towards that," the presenter said when discussing commissioning and final closeout work.

Project staff reported about 30 open punch-list items at the UPK and TRA areas, continued commissioning and QA/QC checks, and a remaining set of PCOs/PCOs (potential change orders) and contingency drawdown. Contractors and the design team were described as actively addressing open submittals and inspections; the presenter and board members discussed potential modest costs for specific punch items and noted one example conservatively estimated at about $1,500.

Board members praised the clear reporting, voiced frustration about a roughly six-month delay in pool availability that affected student programs and asked for a lessons-learned report to guide future contracting and scheduling. The BOCES and project team said they would continue to close out documentation, address punch items and follow up on any remaining commissioning questions.

What happens next: the BOCES team is awaiting the DOH inspection (Feb. 19) and the architect's submission to NYSED; the board was told staff expects occupancy paperwork to be ready soon after those inspections, with district staff trainings and owner familiarization to follow prior to student use.