Connellsville board approves building project
CONNELLSVILLE – A multimillion-dollar elementary school construction project narrowly received board approval to move from the drawing board into the field. By a 5-to-4 vote the Connellsville Area School District board of directors approved a contract with Walter Mucci Construction Co. Inc. of Perryopolis to build the new Springfield Township Elementary School at a cost of $5,356,541.
District building and grounds director Michael Omatick speculated that excavation work could begin in May.
“The contracts have to be drawn up and signed and that will take a few weeks,” he said following Monday’s special meeting to award the 10 construction-related contracts. “After all the signatures have been added, they’re free to get started.”
Following the issuance of a feasibility study nearly two years ago that rated the 50-year-old building as fair to poor for its antiquated heating and electrical systems and its lack of a gymnasium and auditorium, the board determined to replace the structure instead of initiating a renovation program.
For the same period of time, board member Francis Mongell has asked that the panel consider consolidating the Springfield student population with nearby C.N. Pritts Elementary School and building one school to accommodate the mountain area of the district and save several million dollars in the process.
“I really hoped someone else would have voted differently,” said Mongell after the meeting.
Mongell, along with board members Karen Blocker, Loretta Lint and Jeffrey Harvey, joined in voting against the expenditure.
“I am not against a new school,” said Lint. “I am against how much it is going to cost the taxpayers.”
With associated building costs of $1.143 million for heating and air conditioning, $369,500 for plumbing, $833,800 for electrical work, $147,556 for the telecommunication system, $71,700 for library furnishings and $198,449 for the construction of a sewage treatment plant along with an estimated $180,000 for food service equipment, Lint and the others said the price tag is too high.
The cost will additionally be increased with the demolition and asbestos abatement of the current building.
The board awarded a contract to Ritenour and Sons Construction Co. Inc. of Connellsville for asbestos removal at a cost of $130,000 with Ontario Specialty Contracting Inc. of Buffalo, N.Y., receiving the demolition contract at a cost of $63,108.
The district is expected to receive approximately $2 million in reimbursement from the state to defray a portion of the costs.
“We should have addressed the needs of the 700 students at both schools, not just the 300 at Springfield,” said Mongell. “We would have saved nearly $7 million dollars in state reimbursements and the cost to the taxpayer would have been a lot less.”
Parents of students at the Springfield school, however, gave the board a rousing round of applause for approving the construction.
“We’re very happy,” said one unidentified parent.
In other matters, the board also awarded contracts to various firms to install air conditioning at Connellsville Township, Zachariah Connell and C.N. Pritts elementary schools.
Whitby Inc. of Uniontown and A-1 Electric of Venetia will install the air conditioning system and electrical work, respectively, at Connellsville Township at costs of $586,000 for the system and $46,000 for the electrical work.
Limbach Company, LLC of Pittsburgh was awarded the air conditioning contract at Zachariah Connell at a cost of $732,000 with A-1 Electric to provide electrical work at a cost of $56,000.
Limbach and A-1 will also install service at C.N. Pritts at costs of $562,000 for the system and $63,000 for the electrical work.