Officials in the Saugerties Central School District (SCSD) opened their presents early last week as an update of the districtwide $22 million capital project reveals it is on schedule and budget.
During a meeting of the SCSD School Board held on Tuesday, December 12, Jeff Andrews, a consultant with Albany-based BBL Construction Services, provided the first in-person updates in several months. Among those updates were the status of hazard abatement, a project planned for the summers of 2023 and 2024 to allow for the work to be done when students aren’t in class.
“We are taking the summers to achieve the hazardous abatement,” Andrews said. “We completed a lot of that work this last summer, but we have some more to go yet as we move forward.”
That work has already begun in all school facilities except Riccardi Elementary, and all are expected to be closed out before the start of the 2024-25 school year.
As anticipated, roofing work on the Hildebrandt Building, which houses the district’s administrative operations, was largely completed this summer, as was the completion of Cahill Elementary roofing upgrades. Roofing work is entering its closeout phase in early winter.
Other Phase I work included the already-completed resurfacing of the Saugerties Junior & Senior High School track, as well as windows and flooring upgrades across the district.
The high school auditorium is nearly finished receiving a comprehensive series of upgrades, many for the first time since it was built in 1958. Improvements include new seating and sound booth.
At Cahill Elementary work will be completed this month on exterior railings and stone cap at the primary entrance to the school.
“We did get reports today that the metal fabricator has had some issues with their equipment and they’re working to potentially outsource, so that railing work may not be done until the week of Christmas,” Andrews said.
Flooring on the second and third floor at Cahill is complete, with remaining floors slated for next summer.
“Coming up in 2024, we’ve got the flooring on the first and lower levels as well as some work at the secure vestibules,” Andres said, noting that the secure vestibules are being installed at all of the district’s schools. “We have five vestibules to tackle.”
Work on a stage addition is still underway at Grant D. Morse Elementary, but Andrews said progress has been made. The north half of the gym will remain in the construction zone until a new fire curtain is installed, a project that has been hampered by delays.
“The delivery of that should be happening somewhere between April and June 2024 for installation,” Andrews said.
Framing and fireproofing in the gym at Morse is already complete, and painting is underway.
Voters approved the local tax-neutral $22,000,390 districtwide facilities improvement project in December 2020. According to the plan, roughly 66 percent of the project is covered by state building aid, 32.2 percent in retiring debt, and the remaining 1.8 percent through a capital reserve balance.
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