School board approves maintenance trust expenditures and $100,000 to begin Drury Lane repairs

The Hollis School Board on June 3 approved a set of maintenance expenditures after a public hearing in which no members of the public spoke.

Dot, the district representative presenting the hearing, outlined the recommended uses of expendable trust funds: classroom flooring ($35,000), basketball court repairs and replacement (combined $55,000), drywall removal and related work ($20,000) and cabinetry phase work ($15,000), for a Hollis School Buildings total of $125,000. Dot said the current expendable trust balance for those school building accounts was sufficient to cover the recommendations and that using the funds would return the maintenance trust balance to approximately the prior level.

The board moved and approved a motion to authorize expenditure not to exceed $125,000 from the Hollis School Buildings Expendable Trust for the identified maintenance items. The motion passed unanimously on a board voice vote recorded as 5–0.

Separately, the board authorized up to $32,000 from the SAU building expendable trust for SAU roof repairs, explaining that the SAU building (4 London Lane) is owned by the district and the roof had active leaks that required attention. That motion also passed 5–0.

Later in deliberations the board approved a request to expend up to $100,000 from the FY26 unreserved fund balance to begin repairs on Drury Lane. Dot told the board that bids were still being collected and the full cost would likely exceed $100,000; the $100,000 vote was described as a way to start critical work now and fold remaining costs into next year’s budget or future warrant articles. The motion was adopted 5–0.

What happens next: Administration will solicit bids, start the first phase of work, and return to the board with budget recommendations for further funding. The board recorded the public hearing as having received no public testimony before the votes were taken.