Board advances $575,000 capital plan with HVAC, locker and mitigation work

Regional School District 15 officials reviewed a $575,000 capital plan the board put at the front of the agenda for detailed discussion.

A district presenter said the package stays inside the district’s existing capital allocation and enumerated prioritized projects. “Our biggest building of all, Pomeric High School, we are gonna do another phase of a locker bay, a remodel and abatement, $43,000,” the presenter said, listing additional work including classroom wall-divider replacements and a second-floor HVAC conversion to rooftop-fired gas units intended to replace aging steam coils.

The presenter described a new regulatory requirement for groundwater-mitigation plans for sites with more than 5 acres of hardscape, and estimated planning work for affected schools at about $15,000 per site. The packet also included roof design and bid work for Memorial Hills School and window replacements at Midway Elementary, where staff identified roughly 10–15 fogged windows in need of attention.

Board members asked about unit pricing and alternatives, and staff said many projects are timed for the summer to minimize disruption. On windows, staff explained replacement requires removing crank-out frames rather than a simple insert, which increases per-unit cost.

The agenda was reordered at the meeting’s start to allow this conversation earlier; the board then heard follow-up questions about recurring roof repairs and the capital backlog. Staff said routine patching has averaged about $10,000 so far this year, while larger reroof jobs would be significantly more and are staged based on condition assessments.

Next steps: staff will return cost estimates in greater detail as bids and design work proceed and will include the capital items in the budget adoption process scheduled for early April.