State College Area School District is planning more than $1.1 million in replacements and upgrades for aging systems at the high school’s natatorium.
The school board on Monday unanimously approved bids for three components of the work totaling $885,357. Another related project estimated to cost $245,000 will go out to bid later this month, according to a memo included in the meeting agenda.
The largest project will replace the HVAC unit that cools, heats and dehumidifies the natatorium. The current unit “is past its useful life and has had ongoing issues with controls and compressors,” Mike Fisher, director of the physical plant, wrote.
It will be replaced with a similar unit “with some slight modifications for ease of maintenance,” according to Fisher. HRANEC Corp., of Uniontown, was awarded the project with a low bid of $570,850.
Work is expected to take place this summer, when the swimming pool is scheduled to be drained for maintenance.
The board approved two other proposals to address aging equipment and safety concerns at the pool.
If It’s Water, of Downingtown, was awarded a $209,507 contract to provide a new filtration system, associated piping, valves and instruments, and a bulk chlorine injection system “which eliminates an ongoing safety concern,” Fisher wrote.
Institutional Specialties, of Pittsburgh, will provide specialty lane timing devices, along with a new digital display and associated cabling, interfaces and software at a cost of $105,000.
The project still to go out to bid will incorporate mechanical and structural installations.
School board member Amy Bader said it would be helpful for budgeting in the future to have an overview of projected costs for long-term natatorium maintenance.
“Being that the natatorium can be a pretty cost-intensive portion of our facilities to operate — I’m not saying we don’t do what we’re doing — but it might be helpful to have eventually a five- or 10-year oversight of what the typical costs are in terms of maintaining it,” Bader said. “I know we get these significant costs that pop up now and then and we talk about it’s been so long and we need to do it, but I don’t know if we’ve ever just had a sense of ‘on a 10-year schedule we usually spend X amount of dollars to maintain the natatorium.’ It just might be helpful for understanding as we budget over the long term.”
