The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
School district looking at possible upgrades
PUBLISHED: January 24, 2008
Now that the Milan Area School District is a full year into our energy management program, the data supports the success of the initiative.
Advertisement
During the first 12 months of implementation, we avoided 21.1 percent of our annual utility expense with a total cost avoidance of $236,147. The 12-month "cost avoidance" refers to the amount of money that was saved when compared to the previous 12-month time period. The calculations are a fair comparison of two annual cycles because they take into consideration both energy prices and weather.
The savings from the Energy Education Program played a major role in allowing the district to balance the 2006-2007 budget. In addition, it helped the district balance the 2007-2008 budget at the November revision.
While these savings have been substantial, they can not provide the funds necessary for the building improvements that the district needs to undertake in the near future.
If you own a home or rent an apartment, you are very aware of the fact that buildings require a certain amount of upkeep. Roofs need to be repaired or replaced, hot water heaters reach a point when they need to be upgraded, and furnaces/boilers do not last forever. In addition, when buildings reach a certain age, the plumbing becomes an issue, windows ought to be replaced and lighting should be updated.
As a homeowner, I have had to make many of these repairs in my home. Even though I work hard to maintain my house to extend the life of these items, there just comes a time when they have to be replaced. The school district is no different. We have a complete preventative maintenance program in place, yet some systems in our buildings have just reached a point where we need to seriously consider replacing them.
We have roofs that are leaking, plumbing that is more than 50 years old and boilers that can no longer heat the spaces properly. While we resolved some of these issues during previous remodeling efforts, we didn't tackle all of the concerns.
The general fund, which supports the operational costs of the district, is really not intended to, nor can it, cover the costs of these major repairs. Therefore, the district soon will have to investigate other methods of funding the projects.
In an effort to be proactive, the district decided to conduct a full blown facility assessment. After performing a self study, the district entered into an agreement with Fanning Howey and Barton Malow to assist with the process of determining what maintenance, improvements and upgrades need to be performed on the buildings in the district. These two firms designed and built the high school five years ago.
Once the facility assessment is complete, the Board of Education will be presented with all of the information. This will include a detailed list of items, including cost estimates for each possible improvement.
The board, along with input from staff and community members, then will begin the process of prioritizing the necessary upgrades. The district will keep you up to date by publishing periodic articles regarding this process.
Bryan Girbach is assistant superintendent of Milan Area Schools. He can be reached at girbach@milan.k12.mi.us.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
