At its special meeting May 1, the borough assembly unanimously approved $266,920 for engineers to assess the condition of Wrangell’s three school buildings, in hopes of making the list for millions of dollars in state funding to repair and refurbish the decades-old structures.
The borough is hoping to get the repairs on the Alaska Department of Education’s list of major maintenance projects at school buildings throughout the state. However, making the list is a highly competitive process that requires districts to demonstrate their need.
The department ranks projects based on urgency, then the Legislature dedicates a fixed amount to the entire list each year. Since this amount is typically not enough to cover all of the projects, the Department of Education funds as many of the projects as it can with the money provided, starting at the top of the list and working its way down.
“Everyone in the state is competing” for maintenance dollars, Tammy Stromberg, who served last year as the Wrangell district’s business manager, explained to the assembly last August.
In 2022, the Legislature approved $100 million for school repairs but Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed the funding down to $37.5 million.
The list before the Legislature this year totals $277 million for 97 projects across the state, of which the state share would be $215 million. The latest draft budget under consideration in the Senate Finance Committee would fund $30 million of the projects, about the first nine on the list.
If Wrangell gets on the list for next year, and is high enough priority to get funded, the borough could receive state assistance for fiscal year 2025.
The assessment will help the borough make its case about the necessity of the school maintenance and repairs to the state. Work could include new roofs, fire alarm panels, exterior siding, boilers, window replacements, a new gym floor, paving for the elementary school parking lot and updated lighting and flooring. The three buildings are all between three and four decades old.
The district is seeking $6.5 million from the state — this money would be in addition to the $3.5 million in bonds that voters approved at last October’s municipal election.
The borough is hoping to move forward with the buildings’ assessment quickly so that they can use the information that the engineers gather to prepare a grant application later this summer.
Juneau-based architecture firm NorthWind Architects won the project after a competitive bid process. Though the firms that submitted bids were very experienced, explained Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad, NorthWind had the most background developing condition assessments for the particular Department of Education grant that the borough plans to pursue.
The total amount the borough appropriated for the NorthWind contract is $293,361 — slightly more than the estimated cost of the condition assessment. The additional money is a contingency, in case unexpected costs arise during the assessment.
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