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SPENCER/EAST BROOKFIELD – Would it make financial and practical sense to install electric hand dryers to replace paper towels in David Prouty High School’s bathrooms?
The DPHS Building Committee tackled that topic, among others, during its most recent meeting.
Committee chair Mike Ethier said the hand dryers were not requested by the district years ago but brought up to re-visit as a result of the plumbing getting clogged. However, Ethier said, there had been no further (flooding) incidents since upgrading flushing diaphragms.
Kristian Whitsett of Jones Whitsett said the construction team was asked to perform a design and pricing exercise to learn what the cost impacts of installing electric hand dryers within the new high school’s bathroom would be.
For “Excel Dryer,” thin air products with stainless steel covers, the cost would be $96,765 for phase one only; $34,800 for phase two only; and $131,566 for both phases.
Whitsett explained that for completed bathrooms (phase one), it is more costly because they would have to open up walls to install and repair them.
Committee member Ralph Hicks said a lot of paper towels are wasted and the dryers would be a more “environmentally sound” thing to have.
“Trees give us oxygen,” he added.
“You’d use less trees but more electric,” said Ethier.
Hick said the dryers are appropriate for bathrooms in high volume areas such as the auditorium, which has non-students coming to events and the cafeteria. He proposed agreeing with the phase two plan costing $34,800.
The rest of the board disagreed.
Member Heather Messier said that if the concern is kids will stuff paper towels down the toilets, they would find something else to put in the toilet if the paper towels are not there.
“That’s a lot of money,” she added.
Ethier said it is sometimes “unintentional,” that paper towels get put in toilets. He cited examples like someone putting the towels down on seats or cleaning the seats before using them and then disposing of them down the drain.
Ethier reiterated that once the upgrades were made, there have been no further problems.
Air dryers, Ethier said, would be “redundant.”
The board “passed over,” all three suggestions.
Change orders approved for walls, flooring finish
Members did, however, approve change orders totaling $249,136. Some of the larger costs are $74,237 to install new CMU walls in “A” building. Whitsett said this measure was after determining the existing CMU corridor walls “are not structurally sound.” He said an overall ROM (rough order of magnitude) had been approved for $325,000 so this expense would come out of that.
The ROM would also be the source of funding totaling $60,468 for flooring finish changes in the “A” building, specifically the servery.
Those two items would leave a balance of $98,467 “for the remaining scope required, Whitsett said.
The committee also approved a change order for $100,807 for a new wall. This expense is to handle required penetrators from fire protection, HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) and electrical systems going through the existing AF (above floor) line interior existing CMU wall in the “A” building.
“Due to the un-grouted and un-reinforced conditions, it cannot withstand these penetrators without being reinforced significantly or rebuilt entirely,” Whitsett said of the wall.
Budget information given
The committee also approved invoices totaling $1.3 million at the meeting.
Nick Pimentel of (owner’s project manager) Colliers said it had been a “rough winter,” resulting in lost time, but the substantial completion date of August 14 still stands.
He said overtime by Fontaine Brothers would be used “when it makes sense for 10-hour workdays or Saturdays.”
Pimentel said they are hoping to move furniture and equipment into the building by early August.
Regarding the budget, Pimentel said $970,000 of upcoming costs are known—leaving $1.3 million expected to be remaining in the total project budget.
In other matters, Pimentel said contractors would start ripping out what’s there in the basketball court by June 23.
It will take five or six weeks to install a new gym floor, which was damaged by a water main break late last year, according to Pimentel.
Temporary measures were taken so the season could proceed.
