SYRACUSE – The Wawasee School Board signed $3.2 million in contracts for high school and middle school renovations Tuesday.
Bids accepted for high school kitchen renovations total $1,859,026, and middle school renovations, including the pool area, total $1,353,921. The board agreed to cut $131,000 worth of items from middle school plans, such as a few interior doors and windows.
Bids were presented by Kari Vilamaa with Barton-Coe-Vilamaa. Bids were opened and reviewed last week.
Members also heard a proposal for installing geothermal energy wells under the middle school. Essentially a series of closed loops circulating water, the 200-ton, 400-foot-deep system would cool the school in summer by dispersing heat underground and warm it in winter by drawing heat in, said Bob Wede with Performance Services Inc.
The approximately $1 million project would save $25,000 to $40,000 a year in energy costs and pay for itself in 20 to 40 years, depending on natural gas prices, he told the school board. The wells have an expected life of 50 or more years, and being an enclosed, underground system, require no regular maintenance, he added.
Performance Services has overseen the installation of geothermal wells at several schools in the state, including Haverhill Elementary near Fort Wayne, though Wede said a well at Wawasee Middle School would be twice as large.
Board members noted that a well would be less obtrusive than the wind turbines also being considered.
The project would be funded by a 1-percent federal stimulus grant Wawasee was greenlighted to apply for two years ago.
The board agreed to hold a hearing in March or April, and has until September to make a decision. If approved, the well could go in by the end of the year.
