INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County School Board closed out one school’s construction project and approved changes to another school’s improvements during Tuesday evening’s meeting.
With minimal discussion, the School Board unanimously approved its final payment to Ag-Scape Services for work performed at Gifford Middle School. The company had been hired to make drainage improvements at the school to address flooding issues.
School Board member Claudia Jimenez told her fellow board members that she has visited the school and was happy to report the flooding problems appear to be resolved.
The School Board in July approved a construction agreement with Ag-Scape Services to perform the work for $99,300. The total work done amounted to just over $98,000. The difference of $1,284 was from the School District’s contingency budget – and is a cost savings to the District.
While the School Board was able to close out the Gifford Middle School project, the board found a need to modify the project at Treasure Coast Elementary School, which is in dire need of new chiller plants used for air conditioning.
Assistant Superintendent of Finance Carter Morrison told the School Board that the school’s original project scope did not include replacing the two chillers already on-site – but one chiller had a “catastrophic failure” and the other is “on its final legs.”
The first chiller was automatically replaced, using the construction project’s contingency fund, Morrison explained. He requested the School Board re-establish the full contingency fund as well as allocate additional dollars to replace the second chiller while construction crews are still on-site.
He said that if the District were to wait until the expansion project were completed to replace the chiller, it would cost approximately 15 percent more due to mobilizing the equipment to make the replacement. With crews already on-site, there is no cost of mobilization.
The cost to re-establish the contingency fund and replace the second chiller is approximately $250,600, making the guaranteed maximum price for the expansion project at Treasure Coast Elementary School $5.88 million.
School Board member Karen Disney-Brombach asked why the chillers were not part of the District’s 5-year capital improvement plan, in which most other equipment is included.
“This episode has exposed” that chillers are not included in the plan, Morrison responded. He added that going forward, chillers would be made a part of the 5-year plan.
