STAMFORD — School and city officials have millions of COVID-19 relief funds to use, and two schools will be getting multi-million dollar improvements thanks to that money.
This week, the Stamford Board of Finance approved two projects: a $2.5 million replacement of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning rooftop units at Scofield Magnet Middle School and a similar project at Stillmeadow Elementary School for $2 million.
Kevin McCarthy, director of facility operations, said the district spends “significant time, effort and money” at Scofield and Stillmeadow specifically to deal with issues with their HVAC units.
Mayor David Martin and school officials had hoped for more approvals. At a Board of Finance meeting on Oct. 13, members were presented with a list of six projects, including those at Scofield and Stillmeadow.
Among the list were air quality improvements at Stark Elementary School, Davenport Ridge Elementary School and Rippowam Middle School, totaling $5 million. Another project, worth $1.5 million, would have allowed facilities managers to operate cooling and heating systems at all schools from one screen.
All six projects, if approved, would have been paid from the federal COVID-19 relief funds through the American Recovery Plan. But the money would have come from the city’s ARP fund, not the $32.7 million given to the school system from the same federal relief fund.
The finance board rejected all six on Oct. 13.
This week, the Scofield and Stillmeadow projects were voted on again by the finance board and both passed unanimously.
On Tuesday, the Stamford Board of Education voted to approve a list of capital projects for the 2022-23 school year. Because the city is using ARP funds on the Scofield project, that freed up potential money to use on a boiler plant upgrade worth $1.5 million at Turn of River Middle School, as well as upgrade unit ventilator controls at Springdale Elementary School, worth $500,000, among other projects.
The four HVAC-related items not approved by the Board of Finance were placed back on the school department’s capital budget list. When they were presented to the board about two weeks ago, some members questioned the timing.
Board of Finance member Mary Lou Rinaldi wondered why such high-priced items were being presented close to a change in administration, which will happen once a new mayor is elected in November.
Secondly, she said it made little sense to vote on such projects before the school district receives a draft of the master facilities plan that is being done by an outside contractor and is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
Rinaldi said voting on such projects felt like “putting the cart before the horse.”
Martin, who presented the projects to the board and proposed using city ARP money to fund them, said they were selected precisely because city officials believe the projects will be necessary even after the master plan comes out. None of the schools listed in the six projects are being eyed for demolition, Martin said.
“These are schools that we anticipate future investment in,” he said.
Additionally, getting the work approved through the funding process would still allow the incoming mayor the option of moving forward with the projects or not.
“We believe this makes life simpler for everybody,” Martin said, at the mid-October Board of Finance meeting.
On Tuesday, Schools superintendent Tamu Lucero called the vote “very good news” for the district, even though she and Martin had hoped for the full $11 million.
“I’m sure (Martin) wished it would have been all of the money, but we’re happy with what we can get,” she said.
A slew of school projects could be completed using relief funds, but officials are waiting until this December to find out how much reimbursement the city will get for two major projects: either partially or entirely rebuilding Westhill High School and a structure on Lockwood Avenue for a pre-K program.
School and city officials are expecting large price tags for each.
Earlier this year, city officials set aside $1.65 million in ARP funds for the schools to use on HVAC projects at Scofield Middle School, Northeast Elementary School and Turn of River Middle School. The projects are not related to mold in schools — mold has been a problem at all three buildings — but rather upgrades of existing equipment, officials said.
Martin said the city still has about $15 million available from the ARP account, which means more school air quality projects could be coming down the pike.
“I believe the Board of Finance will be heavily driven to put almost all of it into capital projects that are HVAC or storm water related,” he said.
ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com
