WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williamstown School Committee last week decided to use the district's building renewal fund to address some summer maintenance issues for the 15-year-old structure.

 

At a special Wednesday morning meeting, three members of the five-person panel voted unanimously to approve up to $84,283 dollars for three different contractors to do roof, window and masonry work at the school, which opened in 2002.

 

"Some of this stuff is to be expected," Principal Joelle Brookner said. "When a building is 15 years old, after 15 years, wood windows need repair. It's the same thing with the repointing."

 

The district has a building renewal fund created from a $1 million gift from Williams College when the school opened. The gift draws interest as part of the college's endowment. It generated revenue for more than a decade before the School Committee first accessed it for an expenditure in April 2015.

 

Interim Superintendent Kimberley Grady told the committee last week that the work ordered for this summer is related to snow and ice damage. The school brought in contractors to quote prices for the work needed, and the projects were previously discussed by the Building Renewal Subcommittee.

 

"Summer is here, and the contractors would prefer to work on the building while kids aren't here," Grady said, explaining why the vote could not wait for the School Committee's next scheduled meeting in August.

 

Some of the money authorized last week was to pay a bill for work already done, a $2,846 bill from Pella Windows and Doors of Greenfield.

 

Grady said the window company will be back to potentially do more work, and the committee authorized up to $5,000 worth of additional interior window work.

 

It also got some good news on the window front: Kaplioff's Glass of Adams donated labor for exterior window work. Chris Kapiloff is a member of the town's Planning Board and the father of children at the elementary school.

 

The committee voted to accept that gift and authorize the district to pay for any permitting that may be required in relation to Kapiloff's work.

 

The two big-ticket items on the agenda were for roofing and masonry work.

 

The latter was a $33,837 bid from Cantarella and Son of Pittsfield. The former was $42,600 to D.J. Wooliver and Sons of Lanesborough.

 

Wooliver is both repairing existing wear and tear on the roof and recommended installation of heat trace de-icing elements at the gutters and in "valleys" where snow collects on the peaked roof.

 

"The work for Wooliver needs to be done," Grady said. "If we held off, it would create more damage."

 

School Committee Chairman Joe Bergeron told his colleagues the college already had told the district the funds were available as needed to address building needs. He also said the committee needs to think strategically about how it will address maintenance issues as the building moves through its second decade of service.

 

"This plays into a larger conversation the building committee needs to have this year about a long-term renewal plan," Bergeron said. "When do we need to redo the floors and larger sections of the roof? So we'll know what we need to go to [the Massachusetts School Building Authority] for and what we need to go to the building renewal fund for.

 

"There will always be surprises, but we'll try to make them smaller surprises."

 

Head custodian Jim O'Brien attended the midweek School Committee meeting.

 

Grady also used the meeting as an opportunity to introduce the School Committee to three members of the administrative team who this summer are helping her fill long-vacant positions at the Lanesborough-Williamstown Tri-District office.

 

Attending the meeting were interim Director of Pupil Personnel Services Carl Tillona and Andy Paquette and Chris Desjardins of The Management Solution, which is covering the work done by the Tri-District's vacant business manager position.