Financing plan eyed for potential $5.8M Eastern Westmoreland tech center renovation

Administrators at Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center are taking the next step toward a proposed renovation of the 43-year-old building — by working on a plan to pay for the project, which could cost more than $5.8 million.

The center’s Joint Operating Committee this week authorized administrative staff to start discussions with parties, including a financial underwriter and bond counsel, to develop a recommended bond issue for financing the renovation, with a maximum dollar cap.

That recommendation will be presented to each of the three school districts — Derry Area, Greater Latrobe and Ligonier Valley — that send students to the technology center and are represented on the JOC board.

There will be no cost associated with the preliminary discussions, according to Todd Weimer, the center’s administrative director. If the financing plan proceeds, consultant fees would be tied to the purchase of bonds, he said.

Based on a recently completed feasibility study and depending on the work included, the renovation could cost between about $4,354,000 and $5,850,000, Weimer said.

Work items will be prioritized, he said, noting, “the number one priority is safety.” The project might include interior construction to enhance security measures at the building entrance, where visitors already are required to submit a driver’s license or similar ID to be scanned.

“We have a safe system as it sits now,” said Weimer, “but we want to follow best practices and recommendations.”

Other items to address are the roughly 100,000-square-foot building’s old windows and its steel shell, which is rusting in places.

“All of those have an effect on our HVAC system and impact on the comfort level in the building and being able to manage the temperature,” Weimer said.

“Tightening up the shell” should improve the efficiency of the new HVAC system and boilers that were installed a few years ago, Weimer said.

Outside the building, sidewalks and paved areas are showing their age, Weimer said.

“Redoing those surfaces and getting them up to standard also can be tied into safety,” he added.

The center in Derry Township offers students hands-on instruction in subjects ranging from automotive technology and welding to cosmetology and graphic communications.