Yorkville School District Y115 to spend $500,000 on Grande Reserve air-conditioning project

YORKVILLE – School District Y115 is planning to replace critical air-conditioning components at Grande Reserve Elementary School.

The district has budgeted $500,000 for the project, which is expected to be approved by the Yorkville School Board on Feb. 27.

However, installation of the new chiller and compressors will not happen until spring of 2024.

Director of Facility Operations Heather DiVerde told school board members at a recent committee-level meeting that because of on-going supply-chain difficulties, the equipment would be delivered to the district late this year after the order is placed.

The existing 215-ton air-cooled chiller is leaking freon from each compressor. Tubes inside the cooling barrels have cracks and also are leaking the chemical.

Every year, the district’s maintenance staff is forced to recharge both the compressors when starting up the system, DiVerde said.

“If this chiller were to stop running there would be no cooling in the building,” DiVerde wrote in a memo to the board.

Grande Reserve is by far the district’s largest elementary school.

Enrollment stands at 630 students in the K-6 building, which opened in 2006, Principal Michele Breyne said.

District Finance and Operations Director Kreg Wesley said the district has budgeted $500,000 for the replacement but the cost may end up being less.

The money to finance the chiller project will come from a capital fund that was generated through a bond issue, Wesley said.

In December 2020, the district issued $9 million in general obligation bonds to finance capital projects.

By statute, 85% of that money must be spent within three years, meaning December of this year. This is another reason the district is planning to make the purchase of the chillers now.

The bond money must be used only for capital projects such as building improvements and not for operational costs such as salaries or academic programs.

Expenditures have included $800,000 for the second and third phases of the roof replacement project at the Yorkville High School and $377,00 for the roof at Bristol Grade School.

Two major improvements performed last year were focused on school building security.

The district replaced, upgraded and expanded its security camera system at all school buildings for a cost of $1 million, also installing bullet-resistant glass in school building entrances and vestibules at a cost of $35,000.

Meanwhile, the district spent another $750,000 of the bond money to finance the renovation work to transform a building that was purchased by the district into the Early Childhood Center, which opened its doors at the start of this school year.

More capital projects are on the way.

These include a new district maintenance building along West Saumonauk Street near Yorkville Academy, which is budgeted at $300,000. The building also will become the new home for the high school robotics program.

And of course there is the $1.2 million the district is planning to spend on synthetic turf and other improvements at the high school football field and high school baseball and softball fields.

Those projects are expected to be performed this summer.