Geneva District 304 board OKs $56 million capital improvement plan

The Geneva Unit District 304 school board has unanimously approved a seven-year, $56 million capital improvement plan.

Facilities Operations Director Scott Ney said drafting the plan involved surveying all the district's buildings, prioritizing work based on cost, need and efficiencies, and cost estimates for future projects.

"Looking through all the facilities, architects, engineers, myself - we keep track on a yearly basis of what issues that we have," Ney said. "We document those and we follow up and we add these to the list."

Items prioritized for the 2023-24 school year will cost nearly $13 million. These include:

• Updating its HVAC from pneumatic to digital controls, masonry flashing and tuck pointing repairs and electrical switchboard replacement at Geneva High School.

• Concrete sidewalk repairs at Geneva Middle School North.

• Resurfacing the contest gym floor and replacing or repairing damaged roof sections at Geneva Middle School South.

• Concrete sidewalk repairs and repairing or replacing the roof at Harrison Street School.

• Replacing the 33-year-old boiler at Western Avenue School.

• Replacing the 27-year-old boiler and pump and parking lot maintenance at Mill Creek School.

• Concrete sidewalk repairs and replacing carpet and tile flooring at Heartland School.

• Replacing damaged roof sections and resurfacing the gym floor at Fabyan Elementary.

• Upgrading the fire alarm system, replacing the fan coil and condensing units, repairing or replacing the roof, and resurfacing the parking lot at Coultrap Educational Services Center.

• Replacing the wall panel, resurfacing and drainage improvements for the parking lot, and expanding the parking lot at the Keslinger Bus Garage.

In future years, Ney recommended capital improvement spending of $7.5 million in 2024-25, $10.4 million in 2025-26, $6.5 million in 2026-27, $2.2 million in 2027-28, $1.4 million in 2028-29, and $6.9 million in 2029-30.

"The goal of this plan - as you know because we've brought this to you in the past - is to try to equalize out the spending each year, and we're able to do that carry-over, if things don't happen the way we want them to go, either for lack of bidders or supply chain issues that we have," Superintendent Kent Mutchler said.

The full plan can be viewed online at https://tinyurl.com/5d3p62y6.