Webutuck’s $12.6 million project to begin this summer

AMENIA — The final contractor bids for the North East Webutuck Central School District capital improvement project were accepted at the WCSD Board of Education’s Monday, Feb. 12 meeting. Work is slated to begin this summer.

The board first proposed the Webutuck CSD capital improvement project in December 2022. Once the project was voted on and approved in May 2023, the board began soliciting contract bids.

The work will be done with no additional tax impact on residents because a capital improvement debt incurred 20 years ago will be paid off at the same time the new debt is added, and dollar for dollar, the amount is almost the same.

In December 2022, the board named three reasons for the proposed projects, saying they were need-based, necessary for the health and safety of the students and staff, and that they focused on critical infrastructure needs.

The improvements that the contractors will begin this summer include facilities updates: on-site parking, sidewalks and roofs must all be replaced due to aging and normal wear and tear. Some elements of the sanitary system have also aged out.

Taking care of the facilities means less chance of unexpected problems such as burst pipes — in January 2022, a burst pipe flooded the school’s auditorium with six inches of water — data loss, and missed school days, explained Webutuck CSD Superintendent Raymond Castellani.

In the Webutuck Elementary School (WEB), air conditioning will be installed in some of the classrooms used for summer programs.

An age-appropriate playground at Eugene Brooks Intermediate School (EBIS) for fourth through eighth grade students, who currently have no playground of their own, will also be built.

The Capital Improvement Project will also prioritize an emergency generator to provide protection of the security system, technology and mechanical operations throughout the school district.

At all three schools, the roofs will be replaced and unit ventilation systems that enable fresh air exchange will be installed.

At the intermediate and high schools, there will be milling/repaving of the parking lots and sidewalks as well as installation of a standby generator to protect technology in case of loss of power.

Castellani shared the winning bids after the Feb. 12 meeting. General construction went to Ferrari and Sons, Poughkeepsie, at $84,000; mechanical construction to Tancillott at $990,000; and electric construction to Foremost Electric at $514,900.

Sitework construction went to Land V Scape, Carmel, at $1.54 million, and state mechanicals for the elementary school went to TRANE at $540,918.

Roofing went to Garland Roofing at $5,918,000 million; and Field Turf USA will resurface the multicourt and tennis court for $108,674.

The work will most likely start as soon as school gets out, and Castellani hopes that it will largely be completed by the time school begins again in September.

The original capital plan from December 2022 can be found on the district website at webutuckcsd.org