Committee recommends first phase of CCHS repair

For nine years, Geary Parkinson has warned school officials and administrators to fix aging maintenance systems in the county’s older school buildings.

The longtime director of maintenance for Culpeper County Public Schools may finally get his wish.

The Culpeper County High School Renovation Plan Steering Committee unanimously agreed Thursday to recommend that the Culpeper County School Board move forward with a “central plant” plan for the 40-year-old high school on Achievement Drive.

The $955,000 plan includes replacing the chillers, cooling tower and pumps, HVAC system and electrical, piping and mechanical equipment — just to name a few items on the list.

“I’m really pleased with it,” said Parkinson, who serves on the committee. “It’s sort of been the direction I was hoping that we would go in for the last four years.”

The central plant or (phase 1A) is just the beginning of the renovation project.

According to the SHW Group, which is handling the project, CCHS also needs a $9 million “backbone” installed, including plumbing work, ductwork, flooring, lighting and fire alarm cabling. The remaining work would include replacing windows, classroom wings, doors, the cafeteria, gym and flooring.

Two SHW Group representatives, Derk Jeffrey and Gary Watson, and Hurd & Obenchain rep Mike Sowick, presented another slideshow to the committee Thursday night, explaining the process in further detail.

Jeffrey reminded the committee that his company’s proposals are just “a way” to renovate the high school — “it’s not necessarily the only way.”

“We’re not creating the Taj Mahal here, we’re extending the life of a facility to provide education for a long time,” Jeffrey said.

The SHW Group gave the committee two options for renovating the 172,400-square-foot school: a two-year project at an estimated $20.5 million or an 11-year phased project that would cost $42.2 million.

The committee members who spoke during Thursday’s meeting all opposed the idea of the multi-year phasing option.

“It seems like to me it’s going to be more inconvenient for staff and students and more costly for the taxpayers and not as efficient (for the) systems,” said renovation committee chairwoman Elizabeth Hutchins, referring to the multiyear phasing plan.

Committee member Chris Willis, a former CCPS teacher who owns a construction-site-estimating business in Culpeper, said the $20.5 million projection is a conservative quote.

“I think it could be a lot more than this,” she said. “And I do think it can be a real problem when you’re dealing with a different contractor for every phase. Everything is much more efficient and saves you money when you just deal with one contractor for the whole thing.”

If the School Board approves the central plant plan, it will then request the funding from the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors, the governing body that allocates money for the school division and other agencies in the county.

Renovation committee member and county supervisor Sue Hansohn said if this project comes before the Board of Supervisors, it’s likely to be put in the voters’ hands.

“I wouldn’t want to make that decision for the citizens of Culpeper,” she said. “Plus we’re also going to be facing raising money for teachers’ salaries, and sheriff’s deputies, and everybody else.”

The county has until July if it wants to place this issue on the November 2010 ballot.