At the regular Clearview trustee board meeting held on Monday, Dec. 7, the board was presented with the annual report of the Infrastructure Maintenance Renewal (IMR), by Russell McKay, director, maintenance services.
It was highlighted that most schools would be requiring some kind of maintenance upgrades, foremost among them the Botha School.
During the months of October and November, Peter Neale, associate superintendent, Clearview Public Schools and Russell McKay met with school principals and conducted site visits to determine possible IMR projects.
The management also reviewed facility audits conducted by Alberta Infrastructure to determine needs.
But, with the Alberta government decreasing the IMR funding for the academic session 2015-16: funding decreased by $479,024 to an expected in-year funding of $515,631, with carry forward balances from 2014-15 of $301,379, the total resources available is $817,010.
According to Peter Neale, associate superintendent, Clearview Public Schools, the gym at the Botha School would get new flooring because of safety concerns.
"The school gym was modernized a few years ago due to a flood and the current flooring which is a vinyl sheet is not ideal as a gym floor," said Neale. "The new flooring will be a rubber surface that is highly durable and will have many of the same properties as hardwood with less maintenance, compared to hardwood flooring, which needs annual maintenance."
Breaking down these figures for the Botha School was McKay, who estimated the following upgrades and financial requirements.
Although gym floor, duct cleaning, line of site (camera and remote locking) for office, LED upgrades for outside lighting, door locks for lockdown and eaves trough repair were priority, learning commons renovation, common area patching and repair and flag pole were second in priority, with storage container being third.
The cost of all the upgrades was estimated to be a little over $57,000, with the gym flooring taking the lion's share of $18,000.
All projects that have been prioritized or marked as second priority are to be completed as soon as possible.
In general, resources available for 2015-16 are able to address all Priority 1 and Priority 2 level needs already identified across the board and all priorities total $1,026,177 with available resources of $817,010, after staffing cross-charges.
The largest Priority 3 project is the hallway at Stettler Elementary School at $48,000.
A roofing project is being reviewed for Erskine School, which is estimated at $175,000.
"IMR projects are facility-related projects supported directly by the Alberta government with a specific mandate to those dollars, i.e., dollars received must be spent on IMR projects," said Neale. "A school division's first priority is to ensure that health, safety and essential upgrading needs, including emergent projects, are met, so school divisions should set aside a contingency amount to address emergency projects."
At this time, senior administration is planning to proceed with Priority 1 and Priority 2 projects, totalling $801,727.