Marblehead school repair project reduced by $2.3M

MARBLEHEAD – The committee planning the Marblehead Village School repair project has trimmed $2.3 million off the cost.The School Committee voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the project to Town Meeting with a $19.6 million price tag. A month ago the Building Oversight Committee estimated the cost at $21.9 million, an amount that met with some resistance from members of the Finance Committee and Capital Planning Committee.The project starts with replacing the two boilers at the 123,000-square-foot, 700-student, 116-employee school. The boilers date back to 1957 and 1968, and according to school officials they are on day-to-day status.School Committee Chairman Amy Drinker pointed out Monday that the heating system work necessitates meeting accessibility code requirements, and that work leads to other fire/safety code requirements, because the dollar amount of the above is more than 30 percent of the building’s fair cash value.”Since the sprinkler system and the pipes will be above ceiling, we will need a new ceiling,” she said. “Saving the old lights isn’t cost effective, so we will need new lights. To protect that investment we need to replace the leaking roof, which is still in large portion the original roof, and doesn’t have energy efficient insulation value.”Educators also want to maximize the effectiveness of the new heating system by replacing the school’s remaining single pane windows.The project no longer includes window shades, replacement of tile flooring, refurbishing interior paint surfaces, replacing lockers as a result of ADA door compliance work, replacing the gym divider, resurfacing the school outdoor track, repaving the access road from Jersey Street, air conditioning the administrative offices and computer lab, replacing the kitchen and dishwasher exhaust units and some technology improvements.Drinker said she hoped that some of the cuts can be addressed if there is contingency money left when the project is finished.BOC member Michael Rockett told the committee previously that the BOC would get the number as low as possible. The original cost of the total project in 2004 was $31 million.