White County School Board looking to hire a firm to evaluate its facilities as part of a five-year maintenance plan.
Board Chairman Bob Young said the maintenance director came to them in August, telling them capital projects are in a good place. Young said the Board wants to have a company evaluate the facilities and making recommendations that prioritize energy improvement.
“There’s a possibility that we could move forward with that saving and cover some of the cost of a capital project through energy savings,” Young said. “so their experts in that and our maintenance director is recommending that we consider that.”
Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said the five-year capital plan is mostly complete, with the Board consulting the firm to evaluate areas of interest for these energy cost saving measures.
“We are just at a point where we feel like we need someone else to look at our facilities and say, hey we think this is what you need,” Dronebarger said.
Alley said he had selected an engineering firm specializing in mechanical, electrical, plumbing and design. The Board does not want to enter into a contract with the firm at this point, though Alley said contracting through the firm could save the Board money and invest that money back into future projects.
Board Member John Smith asked Alley how the savings would go back into the school. Alley said the money saved on energy and other operating expenses would go into future projects.
“It’s not anything that we have to have, and it’s not anything that we’re like, hey this, you know, this is great, we just got the jump on it,” Alley said. “It just seems like we’re at the point where we need to start looking at some of these things.”
Young said more information would be required to take further steps with the process. Young encouraged Alley to procure more information and present it to the Board for further discussion.