Facilities and Transportation Director Dave Benner shared Colby Company Engineering’s (CCE) independent review of Honeywell's audit on heating and ventilation systems at Boothbay Region Elementary School March 6.

Findings showed Honeywell's scope and cost analysis to be reasonable with only one discrepancy.

“We have an overload of heat in the mechanical room … There are two large electrical transformers in there. All of our computer components are in there for the servers. You don't want heat in an area where you have IT equipment,” said Benner.

Honeywell proposed transferring that heat to the underheated main lobby via ducts and fans. CCE disagreed, suggesting a different system. Benner recommended if the board decides to move ahead with the project, it would be prudent to have a workshop with Honeywell for general information and to hash out the one discrepancy.

Bucksport architectural firm Lewis and Malm visited BRES to measure all the doors, look at the concrete issues on the building’s parapets, and the main entrances to both schools to consider better security measures.

“The biggest thing I got out of going around with Lewis and Malm is the concrete parapets coming up through the roofline,” Benner said.

The firm plans to bring a drone out to take pictures of the tops of the dozen parapets to see how much damage is there. Benner said cracking in the concrete is letting water leak into the school, so the board will eventually need to decide whether the parapets should be wrapped with metal or rubber to protect the concrete from the elements.

BRES and Boothbay Region High School were hit on roof safety violations by Safety Works. The violations amounted to a lack of fall protection, but the standards are fairly new, Benner explained. The inspector revealed about 80 percent of Maine schools currently fail these standards, which include an engineer-certified system of a safety harness, 50-foot retractable lanyard and tip-over anchors in the roof.

The best cost estimate is about $80,000 and the CSD has until April 3 to make the changes, but Superintendent Keith Laser said with budget season soon coming to a close, a deadline extension is a possibility.

The trustees voted unanimously to set a formula for special education costs on out-of-district students which will increase the cost per student in self-contained classrooms by 40 percent of regular tuition and by 20 percent for students in resource rooms. Laser explained that while the state sets the tuition levels, special education costs can be far different.

Said Laser, “We needed to come up with some number and set it because it's been a moving target the last couple of years ... This is an attempt to standardize. There is a state-recommended formula, but that quite honestly is so expensive, Edgecomb is going to be gone if we charge them that. It's roughly another 100 percent of costs.”

The trustees will meet at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 20 when they hope to approve the budget to go to warrant.