District 113 Board Debates Roofing Project

The School Board voted 5-2 to approve an up to $2.35 million phase of a roofing project at Deerfield High School (DHS) at its last meeting held Jan. 9.

Barry Bolek, assistant superintendent for finance in District 113, described this fourth phase of a six-phase project to remove and replace a series of roofs at DHS, a project that began in 2006. So far half of the roofs have been completed, with the next phase expected to be finished by August of 2012.

Bids were also sought for the fifth and sixth phases of the project, but none of these bids have been recommended at this time, Bolek said.

An immediate need?

E.W. Olson Roofing in Elgin's bid was recommended and approved by the board after some debate among board members, some of whom were concerned about how necessary the roof improvements are at this time and whether or not they could be delayed until a time when the district's budgetary concerns are more clear.

spoke against the recommendation. He pointed out the recent survey sent to community members earlier this month may or may not show the community's interest in the roofing project as "an immediate need."

“I’ll be voting no on this item," said Small. "I agree these buildings need replacement in the next year. However, I believe this is not the proper time to make this decision. There is no time-critical need, there's no major impact."

Small said that as a result of the failed referendum, the board must focus on its efforts in going back to the community and hearing residents' thoughts.

"Final recommendations have not been given by the community. I believe the most prudent action for the board is to continue to work closely with the community before we replace the roof."

10 percent savings

Board Member said the board would be unwise to operate under the assumption that there will be a referendum in the future to cover projects such as the DHS roofs.

"We’re supposed to be evaluating our needs and then deciding whether a referendum is needed," said Smith. "We should not make decisions based on the assumption there will be one. The purpose of a maintenance program is to prevent problems.”

Bolek spoke on behalf of the project, detailing a savings of up to $50,000 per year with the new roofs due to better energy efficiency. This, he said, could translate to roughly a 10 percent savings, depending on the cost of oil in the future.

"The roofs are around 30 years old," he said.

He also spoke to the proposed low bid, saying it was a better deal to take advantage of sooner rather than later.

"One of the reasons we got such a great deal is, the contractor can buy early and store materials now," Bolek said. "If they can go ahead and order supplies now it will be cheaper. I'm not sure if we’ll miss the window or not [if we table this item].”

Small, however, remained unconvinced. He said that the board still has a long way to go before making any large decisions.

"We simply haven’t gotten there yet," said Small. "It’s not the right time. If there were catastrophic issues with the roof, then of course it should be done immediately. But that simply isn’t the case.”

Community survey

Board members also commented on the that were recently sent out to residents of Deerfield, Highland Park, Highwood, Riverwoods and Bannockburn. They were due back to by Jan. 22.

"We are looking for the opinions of all community members," said Board Member . "Results will be adjusted to reflect the demographics of the town and will be used to determine the priorities for the district's longterm plan. We want to quantify all that we’ve heard from the community, and not just have little sound bites.”

Thousands of surveys were received, according to District 113 Communication Director Natalie Kaplan.

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