TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2001
District to invest in energy savings
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
Several more schools in the Tiffin City district will benefit from energy-saving legislation.
Brent Jividen, a representative of Honeywell Corp., outlined improvements to be made to buildings under House Bill 264, during Monday night's board meeting. The law allows schools to finance energy-saving projects; funds saved on energy bills can help repay the debt.
The last set of improvements is just being finished, with the replacement of windows at Krout school showing reductions in noise and heating costs.
The proposed projects include the replacement of all three boilers at Columbian High School. All are 41 years old, being the original equipment when the building was constructed in 1959.
Jividen said one of them had already been "red tagged,'' meaning that no more repairs are allowed. The cost of replacing the boilers is $345,000, with an annual payment by the district over 15 years of $33,300.
Jividen said the project cost would be considered part of the school district's share when the Ohio School Facilities Commission comes back to offer funding help in 2006-2007 for renovations of the high school and elementaries.
Other projects to be funded by the Honeywell program are a new roof at Krout Elementary, for a projected cost of $270,000 or annual payment of $26,060, and Washington window replacement, estimated at $250,000, or estimated annual cost of $24,130.
He said that although not guaranteed, chances were good that the other two projects would also be considered part of the local share in the next round of facilities commission funding. Because the savings on energy alone is minimal, Jividen said the operational costs that would come up if the projects were not completed should be considered as offsets to the cost.
Total costs of the project, if approved by the board at the regular March meeting, will be $865,000, financed at 5.15 percent interest rate over five years for annual payments of $83,490.
Board member and finance committee chairman Chris English said the board could decide to use funds from major maintenance or capital improvement funds to pay the annual payments.
In other matters:
n The new middle school project moved forward with the board's approval of the purchase of two properties. Two parcels owned by Joel and Deborah Hale at 149 Union Street were purchased for $78,000; and a parcel owned by the estate of Florence Mizen at 253 Union was purchased for $4,500.
n Superintendent Denise Callihan presented the 2001-2002 school calendar. She said that the first day of school for students is Aug. 22; graduation is to be on May 25, 2002. The first semester would end before Christmas break, and students would be back in school Jan. 7.
Calamity make-up days are also scheduled. Callihan said this would be the last calendar year for which that was approved as part of a three-year plan; she would like input from staff and community members to set future calendars.
n The board is to begin meeting the first Monday of every month for work sessions regarding the construction of the middle school. The first meeting is set for 5 p.m. Monday at the board offices in the administration building at 244 S. Monroe St. The next regular meeting of the board is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 26.