Most birthdays are celebrated with cake, song and gusto, but the Community School District Board of Trustees brooded Sept. 4 over a buildings and grounds milestone for the Boothbay Region High School oil tank.

At 30, the tank is in its final year of recommended use, trustees said. The double-walled fiberglass tank measures roughly 24 feet by 8 feet and holds 8,000 gallons. It’s buried outside the main entrance.

“It's kind of the elephant in the room,” Lewis and Malm President Charles Earley said.

The firm has been hired to manage and price improvements to both BRHS and Elementary School buildings. The tank was not originally part of the scope. The tank came to the firm’s attention during design of a new BRHS entrance that may now have to be scrapped considering potential costs to replace the tank.

Facilities and Transportation Director Dave Benner and Earley met with Chris Weaver of Simard and Sons of Lewiston. Weaver looked at the buildings and gave a rough estimate to remove and replace the tank. Weaver’s estimate – a surprising but safe number, Earley said – was $103,000, plus $29,000 for shoring.

“(We) talked about the situation strictly in terms of right there where it is and moving it uphill away from the ramp, but as soon as we move it, we're going to get into some ledge,” Earley said.

Benner and Earley agreed the ledge would be beyond heavy duty jack hammering. They did not even entertain blasting so close to the school. Alternatively, if the tank is moved downhill toward the sports fields, two large trees would need to be removed, Earley relayed from Weaver.

Other suggestions Benner mentioned were putting an above-ground tank behind the school or installing an in-ground tank on the hill next to the BRHS turnaround, said Earley. With BRES’s tank also reaching the end of its lifespan, Superintendent Keith Laser suggested perhaps installing a larger tank to service both buildings. The idea caught on with the trustees since thoughts on how to best serve students have included shifting BRES to serve all kindergarten through 12th grade students. The trustees asked Lewis and Malm to approach Simard and Son again with the various ideas on replacing the tanks.

BRES concrete repair

Trustees approved hiring Haskell and Hall for concrete repair at BRES for $110,571.

Earley said he balanced the $1.2 million budget by taking the difference from the escalation fund, but the trustees could manage it any way they saw fit, such as taking the difference out of any reserve funds. In his budget update, Earley said the cost is a “hard number ... I kept the 5% bid contingency the same for the time being and I kept our fee firm so things don't move around too much.”

Earley said two pre-construction meetings would be scheduled with Haskell and Hall, and discussion will include possibly doing the work in smaller projects during school vacations and other times school is not in session.

Announcements

Trustees approved Benner to seek a new John Deere Gator with a plow and drop spreader. Bids for a 54-horsepower one came in at $28,250.46 from Brunswick's Chad Little and $29,080 from Hammond Tractor in Union. Benner also received a $25,269 bid from Union Farm Equipment for a 24.8-horsepower Kubota. He suggested sticking with the Gator.

Benner said roofing repairs have been finished and the project is 77% complete with most remaining work in the boiler room; Honeywell contracts for July 2019 through June 2020 are $10,000 for BRES and $30,500 for BRHS; and the new kettle pot and steamer were installed before the start of school and are operating.