LANSDALE- The North Penn School District Board of School Directors held a work session meeting Monday evening to discuss the air conditioning project for Oak Park, Gwyn Nor, and Knapp elementary schools. The Board has not made any decisions about bids so far and will be making their decision during the action meeting Thursday night. The work session was held for Mr. Steve Skrocki and Mr. Scott Kennedy to present an update on the air conditioning project that included estimates for the bids, timelines, alternates, and more information regarding the overall scope of the air conditioning project that has been on the district’s radar since September of last year.

There are currently six buildings in the school district without air conditioning: Gwyn Nor, Oak Park, Knapp, and the three middle schools. The focus for the current project is directed toward the elementary schools.

The air conditioning project began in September of last year when parents of children in the three elementary schools without air conditioning raised concerns to the Board. In November of last year, the first estimates were developed after working with an architect, and they were presented to the Support Services and Finance Committees.

Bid number one received three general contractors, one HVAC contractor, two plumber contractors, and zero electrical contractors. The plumbing project, which was extra work for Knapp due to plumbing issues, was awarded and completed this summer. The base bid results for bid number one were as follows: the February 1st estimate estimated $838,000 for the general contractor, and the result was one million dollars. The HVAC was estimated at $2.5 million and was over $4 million. The plumbing was estimated at $78,000 and was $92,000, and there was a $1 million estimate for electrical, but there were no bids.

The Board was concerned about the timeline for bid number one and ended up rejecting the bids for general and HVAC on March 16th but authorized the plumbing for Knapp as well as the new bids for the Oak Park multipurpose air conditioning which has since been completed.

For bid number two, the structure slightly changed in that instead of having one complete package, the bids were structured to be three separate bids.

Skrocki stressed the Board’s efforts to solicit interest in the contractors, adding that the more bids the Board receives results in lower costs for the district.

“We don’t just simply put an ad in the paper. We go out and solicit interest in contractors because it’s in our best interest to get as much interest in the project as possible,” stated Skrocki.

The bids received, spread out over all three, were nine for general contractors, eighteen for HVAC contractors, and fifteen for electrical contractors.

Based upon the September 19th estimates, Gwyn Nor had a base bid estimate of $2.167 million and resulted in $1.663 million, Knapp had an estimate of $2.1 million and was $1.8 million, and Oak Park had an estimate of $1.391 million and was $1.5 million. With alternates, for all three schools, the estimate was $7.5 million, including the $523,000 for the summer Oak Park project, and the bids came in at $6.2 million.

The Board is required to take action on the bids at the action meeting Thursday to prevent them from expiring. Skrocki explained that if the bids are approved, construction would start in June, and the final completion would be in September. The money for the project would come from the district’s construction funds and capital reserve funds.

Following the conclusion of the presentation, Skrocki and Kennedy opened up the floor to public comment and discussion from the Board. Several community members expressed their thoughts about making sure that the project would be done adequately to avoid having to face the problem again in the future.

“Let’s do this smart, let’s do this effectively, let’s not do this as a band-aid on top of a band-aid where we need to revisit this again in a couple years,” proclaimed one parent.

There was also concern about the many renovations needed at Knapp on top of the air conditioning project. Board President Ms. Tina Stoll said she and a couple other Board members took a tour of the school on Friday as the first step in assessment. Board member Mr. Mark Warren explained the Board’s struggle in trying to find a balance between working efficiently while also making sure the problems that need to be taken care of are completely resolved.

“We have to balance speed and addressing issues that are current and troubling people right now. We don’t want to just slap band-aids on it. We can’t just put AC in [Knapp] and work around it. We want to take action, but we want to take the correct action,” Warren commented.

The Board will meet for the second work session meeting regarding the air conditioning project at 6:30 PM on Thursday, December 14th in the Educational Services Center. Following the work session will be an action meeting where the Board will decide how to proceed with the bids.