Thursday, November 11, 2010

11/12 BOE Planning Committee Meeting

BOE Planning Committee Meeting
Friday 11/12/2010 7:30am Humiston Building 

AGENDA

1.      Current Projects Update
·        Cheshire High School Auditorium
·        Dodd Kitchen
·        Norton Windows
2.      Review of Capital Budget Funds
3.      Locker Room Project*
4.      Track Replacement and Synthetic Turf Project*
5.      Technology Update

Some thoughts about the CHS Boys' Locker Room:

The planning committee has been researching what's needed to resolve the issues at the CHS Boy's locker room. Two months ago, the planning committee took a tour of the CHS Boys' Locker room with Vincent Masciana and Steve Trifone. My regret during that tour was that I didn't have my camera with me...pictures definitely tell a better story. My initial reaction to the condition of the locker room: simply disgusting. My reaction after our visiting the locker room: Why has it taken so long to get moving on this project? I plan on revisiting the locker room again, taking pictures this time, and posting them here.

In my opinion, the CHS Boy's locker room issues consist of the following:
  • No ventilation is in place either exhaust/intake. There's no air circulation and certainly no fresh air making it's way into the locker room. I think that installing a rudimentary fan exhaust system in the existing glass block windows would make a world of difference in ventilation. We need to exhaust the damp, humid, hot air out of the locker room at a minimum especially during the late spring/summer and early fall months.
  • Small confined space. There's just not enough space to accommodate the lockers needed. The locker room is located under ground, basement, at CHS. There's a set of stairs that leads in/out of the locker room from one of the outside parking areas. My initial thought was to tunnel out into the parking lot, sacrificing a few of the parking spots in order to increase the size of the locker room. But Vincent reminded me that we don't know what's lurking in or behind the foundation that may pose problems for us such as the location of sewer and electrical lines. It could end up being a costly option.
  • Drainage pipe issue. Perhaps the major issue is the size of the drainage pipe utilized by the shower area in the locker room. Engineers, administration and various members of the TC such as Jimmy Sima have told me the pipe is too small in diameter because it's shared between the boy's locker room showers/sewer and upstairs showers.
  • Lockers: The lockers are in terrible disrepair if not beyond repair. In addition to there not being enough lockers, we need lockers that will hold up over time.
  • Configuration: The coaches desk/office is wide open and sits in between the entrance, locker and shower areas. However, there's no space for a true coaches office without either sacrificing locker room space or making the area bigger.
  • Regarding the ceiling...there are numerous missing ceiling tiles, stained ceiling tiles and very clear view of all of the concrete, steel, electrical lines and plumbing running over head. I'm not certain if ceiling height is an issue but the upkeep of the ceiling needs to be addressed. Ceiling tiles come down after accumulating moisture/humidity and not necessarily related to student vandalism.
  • ADA Compliance: We don't have ramps for ADA compliance. More than likely, ramps will need to be installed in lieu of the stairs in the parking lot entrance. It's unclear if we need additional ramps on the side of the locker room leading into the high school although we have stairs there too.
The administration believes that capital money approved for the project is not enough to cover the upgrade. This may very well be true, however, we don't have specs or a floor plan for the renovation. Without this, it's difficult to estimate the true cost of the project.

My advice to the team was to determine the issues with the locker room, prioritize them and come up with a plan/spec based on the funding we do have in place. Some want a field house installed, as an alternative to renovating the locker room, among other benefits. However, I don't think that the taxpayers have an appetite for building a field house at CHS in the near future. It may be a great idea but the cost/benefit & long term cost estimates/savings analysis never happened. I'm hesitant to put forth anything that hasn't had the proper due diligence performed on it. Plus, it can easily be a $1M+ effort.

And while our options and funding is limited for the boys locker room I think it's prudent that we clearly define the issues, how to resolve them and...specs with the approach that we need to make the locker room work based on the capital we do have in place.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The disrepair of the locker room has been talked about for some time now. How much capital money was approved for this project? How is it that money gets approved yet there is no detailed plan or cost estimate for fixing the locker room? Seems to me this happens too often and then when all the details are worked out we always seem to need a lot more money to get it done. Maybe we ought to just use only the money approved and make whatever repairs we can with it. Also, make sure it's clear to all those using it that they'll have to pay for any repairs necessary if damage is done during their pre-game rallies. Destroying school property cannot be tolerated like it used to be.

Anonymous said...

Lets get both the turf and the locker room done
Lets make sure that the anti-education members of the town council fund it
7 million for the pool?
Dave Schrumm must be out of his mind

tim white said...

I recall during cap bgt discussions this year, the track and turf were linked. There was an assumed cost allocation for drainage related to both proposed projects.

Since the track is not happening, turf-related drainage issues just increased... or got eliminated because it'd be cost-prohibitive to excavate the track. I'm not sure how drainage issues would simply go away though.

Tony... considering what happened to the track... have you talked to any BOE members about their post Nov 2 sentiments on the turf?

I'm not looking for any real details... just curious if BOE members are associating public sentiment on the track with the turf? Seems appropriate to me.

Anonymous said...

It is a shame that the people who sought out a grant for the turf didn't seek out a grant for the locker rooms instead. It sounds like that is more of a neccessity than tthe turf.

Also, have you heard whether or not the turf grant is in jeapordy of being pulled back by the new state administration??

Tony Perugini said...

"Tony... considering what happened to the track... have you talked to any BOE members about their post Nov 2 sentiments on the turf?"

Yes, we discussed this during this morning's BOE Planning meeting. I'm doing a write up on the meeting now and will post shortly.

- tony

Anonymous said...

7:51 "7 million for the pool" - That went to referendum and the voters made the decision on that. I'm sure many voters wish the turf would also go to referendum.

Don't know why you refer to "anti education members" on the TC. As I recall every year more money is given to the education budget.

Anonymous said...

$70 Million for 5000 students is not Anti-education. I think many people don't understand this.