New Kensington-Arnold awards contract for Hunt Elementary roof work

The New Kensington-Arnold School Board has awarded a contract to replace part of the roof at one of the district’s elementary schools, while holding off on work at other buildings until it has the money to pay for it.

The district will pay Design-Build Solutions, a subsidiary of Garland Industries, about $740,000 to replace 25,300 square feet of the roof at Roy A. Hunt Elementary School. The work is to be completed this year.

The district obtained the bid through the Omnia Partners bidding process, a cooperative purchasing organization that the state Auditor General says is permissible to use instead of the district seeking bids on its own.

The board had considered awarding a $3.8 million contract for roof work at all of the district’s schools, including Hunt, but the board held off because it does not yet have the money to pay for it. The additional roof work, totaling 110,600 square feet, would be done in 2021.

The district is considering borrowing $4 million, along with refinancing $4 million in existing debt, through either a bond issue or a bank loan. The district’s bond counsel, Joe Muscatello of Boenning & Scattergood, had previously said a bank loan may cost less than a bond issue under current market conditions.

Business Manager Jeff McVey told the school board during a virtual meeting Tuesday that interest rates on a bank loan came in higher than expected, and bond rates are stabilizing. While a bond issue costs more than a loan, McVey said Muscatello has said the district would save more with a bond issue.

Superintendent John Pallone said the district can’t commit itself to a multimillion dollar project without having the money in its pocket.

“Without the money we can’t do the roofs,” Pallone said. “We can’t spend money we don’t have.”

The work at Hunt is considered urgent because of the condition of the roof and the additional damage that leaking is causing. McVey said the district has enough money in its capital reserves to pay for the work at Hunt and to finish work underway on the track at Valley High School.

Leaking at Hunt is damaging the wood floor of the school’s gymnasium, McVey said. Muzzy Colosimo, director of buildings and grounds, said plastic is being used to protect the floor, and that water is vacuumed off it after rain.

Colosimo said the floor has buckled a little, but that sanding should level it.