Vigo School Board OKs high school HVAC project

May 6—A major HVAC project for North, South and West Vigo high schools and West Vigo middle school can now proceed, following action Monday night by the Vigo County School Board.

The guaranteed maximum price for the overall project is $23.2 million, which was approved by the board and work will begin right after the school year concludes. The project came in under budget, said John Newport, VCSC chief operating officer.

The project will use $18 million in federal ESSER funds and general obligation bond money.

In other action, the board approved recommendation letters from Garmong to assign contracts to contractors working on the high school HVAC projects.

Last summer, the board hired Garmong to provide "construction manager as a constructor," also known as CMc, services for the project, while Schmidt Associates was hired as the architect/engineer.

The contracts were awarded as follows:

—West Vigo general trades package: Garmong & Son, Inc. $1,136,500.

—West Vigo electrical package: Sycamore Engineering, $672,550.

—West Vigo mechanical and plumbing: Freitag-Weinhart, Inc., $2,434,000.

—North and South general trades package: CH Garmong & Son, $958,000.

—Terre Haute North and South electrical package: Crown Electric, $1,260,000.

—Terre Haute North and South mechanical and plumbing package: B&S Plumbing and Heating, $3,234,849.

The timeline calls for construction to begin May 23 with project completion slated for August 2025. Boiler work is expected to be completed Sept. 11 of this year and chiller work March 1 of 2025.

"We're very excited to be investing some money into our high schools and being able to get this project going," Newport said. It has been in the works for more than a year.

"It's absolutely vital that we start that base foundation of the project ... the heart and lungs of the building," Newport said. It lays the foundation for future work that will be needed.

While the deadline to use ESSER funds had been December 2024, Newport said there is a three-month extension available and the district is applying for that. There is talk of an additional extension.

The district has a contingency plan and has flexibility to move projects around to use ESSER funds and meet those deadlines. Bond funds have more flexibility.

The projects focus on buildings' central plant and control areas, which will lay the foundation for future upgrades. The work is a just the start of the buildings' needs, officials say.

"We're trying to move the facilities forward. We need to coalesce around something. The condition of the buildings are that doing nothing is not an option," said Superintendent Chris Himsel. "We're trying to do so in a way that gives us options on what we do in the future."

The firm Gibraltar is doing a much larger facilities study of all school district buildings on how it all fits together, he said.

With the Esser project, "We're trying to create that core so we can build upon it and this doesn't lock us into any future decisions and we maintain that flexibility," Himsel said. "Regardless of what decision we make in the future to the rest of the buildings, that's not going to affect this piece of it."

The HVAC projects are important not only to address heating and cooling issues, but also address air quality, he said. For those with allergies or those who have asthma, "Air quality is huge," Himsel said.

The board also approved an agreement to rent a chiller for Dixie Bee Elementary for six months. The chiller is being rented from Trane Rental Services at a cost of $12,106. It is expected to be operating Tuesday of this week.

The chiller rental is in response to cooling issues at the school. The school's air conditioning system "is not operating as it should," according to an email that went home to families.

The facilities operations department has worked to resolve the issue by placing fans around the school and renting the emergency, temporary chiller, which is being tied into the school's cooling system.

Also in response, the district has programmed air handlers to draw in 100% cool air during the overnight hours. As the day warms up, the air handlers return to the minimum 10% outside air state requirement. This has helped the school stay relatively cool and within manageable temperatures, the email stated.

The school's air conditioning system is part of a 2024 HVAC upgrade and is scheduled for a replacement this upcoming winter and it will be operational next spring.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at sue.loughlin@tribstar.com. Follow Sue on X at @TribStarSue.