CLARKS SUMMIT — Abington Heights Superintendent of Schools Michael Mahon announced during a regular school board meeting Jan. 18 work was scheduled to resume on the district’s pool Jan. 19.
Renovations have stalled since Yannuzzi Inc., the contractor originally hired to complete the work, was taken off the job by administration, due to continued delays in the project completion date and poor craftsmanship, in early October.
According to Mahon, the work will now be overseen by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. The Loewke Brill Consulting Group will serve as the project managers and will oversee a number of subcontractors.
Mahon added new ventilation ducts need to be installed, the Dry-O-Tron, a large dehumidification device, will need to be turned on, balanced and fine tuned, and general cleanup and detailing of the facility also needs to be completed.
Members of the board voted not to exceed the state’s Act 1 index of 2.5 percent for any potential tax hike. Raising taxes to the index would net the district approximately $685,000, according to Business Manager James Mirabelli.
The district received an unmodified opinion, the highest possible, on both its financial statements and federal awards after a 2015-16 audit report was completed by Brian T. Kelly & Associates.
Mahon, along with members of the board, discussed the possibility of selling the administration and annex buildings.
Per Mahon, the annex building is used for maintenance and storage, and also houses the director of maintenance’s office while the administration building is home to central storage, central copy, administrative offices and a gymnasium utilized by the community.
“We had some initial conversations with architectural firms and put together a scope of what we might be looking for in draft form,” Mahon said. “We’ve done feasibility studies before and learned from experience that the lowest price isn’t always the best deal. Also, the company that does the biggest glitz is not necessarily the best company to do the work.”
Board member Michael Fleming believes the district needs to be creative in order to raise additional funds.
“The (administration building) is a big facility and we’re not nearly using it to its full extent,” he said. “There is a lot of unused property and I think there is value for many uses. We’re taking about raising taxes and a huge deficit, I think we ought to look under every stone for opportunities to increase our revenue.”
In other business:
• Members of the board approved the resignation of personal care aide Christine Mandarino, retroactive to Dec. 6; para professional Brittany Hollister, retroactive to Dec. 16; aide Lisa Salony, retroactive to Jan. 3 and custodian John Wocniski, effective March 3.
• A leave of absence was approved for Beth Kelly for the second semester of the 2016-17 school year.
• Members of the board approved the appointments of long-term substitute elementary teachers Lisa Salony and Angela McHale, long-term substitute General Science teacher Frank Berardelli, and long-term substitute Family and Consumer Science teacher Linda Wall. All positions are effective for the second semester of the 2016-17 school year.
