HVAC

Metropolis BOE Approves HVAC, Soccer Area Turf Tasks | Native Information

The Greeneville City School Board gave approval for the first phase of the district’s HVAC and lighting project and agreed to fund the cost to replace the turf on the football field at Greeneville High School on Thursday.

The board met Thursday evening after meeting with the Greene County School Board about the Greene Technology Center. Board member Crystal Hirschy was absent, and Director of Schools Steve Starnes participated via Zoom.

The board also approved a new policy to allow schools to carry Narcan, a school bus purchase and a resolution opposing school vouchers. The board also gave approval for Board Chair Cindy Luttrell to enter negotiations with Starnes for a two-year extension to his contract.

HVAC, LIGHTING PROJECT

The board approved Nashville-based building and engineering firm CMTA for HVAC and lighting work in April, and the company started assessing school facilities to identify the most urgent needs and areas for cost savings.

“We have $33 million worth of needs right now,” said Assistant Director of Schools for Administration Beverly Miller. “Greeneville Middle School is our most urgent need for HVAC upgrades with controls. With our current system we either have heat or cooling, but not both, and some components were installed in the early 1960s.”

Full HVAC and control system upgrades at Greeneville Middle School are included in phase one of the project, as well as LED lighting upgrades for every facility and new boilers for two elementary schools, Miller said.

“EastView and Tusculum View both operate using a single boiler, which means if it goes out, we simply cannot heat those schools,” Miller said. “Those single boilers are going to be replaced with two boilers at each school.”

School system leaders approached the Greeneville Board of Mayor and Aldermen Jan. 18 with requests for the town to help pay for the HVAC project and the turf replacement. During that meeting the board voted to help with the HVAC project by raising property taxes, with the amount and effective date to be determined later on, but not with the turf replacement.

The district will pay $4.6 million and the Town of Greeneville will contribute $3.3 million to cover the $7.7 million cost of the first phase of the project. Of the town’s contribution, $2.3 million will be paid on an Energy Efficient Schools Initiative loan from the State of Tennessee that the town and the district will share. The loan was secured by CMTA.

The board also approved a loan agreement for the loan in the amount of $4.9 million.

Work will start around spring break pending supply chain issues. Miller said. She said CMTA has committed to working around schools’ schedules to impact students as little as possible for the remainder of the school year. During the summer she said Greeneville Middle School will be an active construction site.

BURLEY STADIUM TURF

The turf at Greeneville High School’s football stadium has become hardened over the years since it was installed, Miller said, and needs to be replaced for the sake of safety.

“We know around 12 years ago, we put the original turn down and were told it would have about a 10-year life,” Miller said.

She said the district was able to extend that lifespan by maintaining it, but the time has come to replace it.

“It almost feels like concrete as you walk across it, and little pieces of the material end up tracked into our building,” Miller said.

She said Football Coach Eddie Spradlen has expressed safety concerns multiple times over the hardened turf, and Spradlen was also present in the meeting to discuss the field.

“It’s to the end,” he said. “It’s to the point where you worry about the kids’ safety, and that’s the number one priority.”

He said concussions in football typically occur when a player’s head hits the ground, not from players hitting each other, and that concussions are among his concerns.

“We have probably already had injuries on that field that probably wouldn’t have happened in previous years,” he said, adding that football players wear more padding than soccer players, who also use the field regularly.

The cost to replace the turf is just under $550,000, which the board will fund.

Starnes said Town of Greeneville board members advised him to request assistance again at a better time. The town did not agree to help fund the cost because, they said, employee health insurance needed to be determined first, and the request should come through the town’s budgeting process.

Work on the field is due to start immediately after graduation in May.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business the board approved revisions to several policies to align with state recommendations as well as a new opioid antagonist policy.

Chief Student Services Officer Jeff Townsley presented the new policy and said that it would allow schools to “maintain something along the lines of narcan for situations where we need it,” and define procedures for notifying parents if it is used on a student in school.

The board also approved a school bus purchase at a cost of $106,844. Miller said a $10,000 grant secured by Transportation Supervisor Kristen Rollins will cover the cost of installing seatbelts.

The board also approved a formal resolution to be sent to state legislators urging them to oppose school vouchers, which allow tax funding to go to private school students.

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