Amherst Schools capital roof project backed up
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

The Amherst Central School District will have to wait a little longer for roof replacement at the district buildings.

Rick Perry, architect from the Thomas Group, said at the March 11 Amherst School Board meeting that a backlog of capital projects has pushed back review of the first phase of the district's capital construction project - roof replacement at the high school, middle school and Windermere Boulevard Elementary - an additional six weeks.

"We anticipated putting a bid out for (contractors) by the end of this month," said Perry. "That is not the case."

An increase of 80 percent in state EXCEL (Expanding Our Children's Education and Learning) funding and a limited number of reviewers at the state Education Department are the main reasons for the backlog.

Perry said there are 240 projects in front of the district's project for review and 750 behind it.

Perry said an option to speed up the process is to conduct a face-to-face review with the Education Department.

"We're going to do everything we can to get our project moving," said Perry.

Perry said if the review happens in the next six weeks, a bid can be sent out to contractors in the beginning of May. The earliest roof work can start is July 10.

Of the three district schools that need a new roof, Windermere's is the worst. Assistant Superintendent Mark Whyle said Windermere's roof leaks in several spots.

The second phase of the project, mainly infrastructure work, including a 3,600-square-foot cafeteria expansion at Windermere, as well as updated science and art rooms at the middle school, will be submitted to the Education Department for review on April 10.

A 25-week review process is expected, with the hope that a bid can go out to contractors in October and they can receive them by late November. Perry hopes the cafeteria will be completed by the summer of 2009 and the entire second phase project can be done by December 2009.

Both phases are part of a $16.8 million capital project.

In another matter, Whyle and School Business Administrator Gregory Kern briefly outlined projected expenses for the 2008-09 budget.

Several areas are expected to increase, with salaries ($1.5 million), health insurance ($532,000) and technology ($400,000) as the biggest jumps. Kern said teacher retirements totaling $200,000 is a possible reduction.