Architect says school needs $3.3M in repairs.

Biggest expense is new roof on 18-year-old building

UPPER POTTSGROVE >> Eighteen years after its completion on a hill overlooking Pottstown, Pottsgrove Middle School is in need of $3.3 million in repairs, including a new roof.

That was the message James Keiffer, senior project manager with KCBA Architects, had for members of the Pottsgrove School Board’s facilities committee April 11.

He presented a review of problems at the school, most of them having to do with water penetrating the building envelope.

“You don’t want water getting into your building over an extended period of time,” said Keiffer. “That just creates more problems.”

Keiffer said water is penetrating the brick veneer of the building, that the granite capstones at the top of the walls are cracking, allowing water to enter the walls.

He also said there are some cracks in the building due to ground movement and settling.

But the big ticket item is the roof.

Keiffer said it is a 20-year roof and is nearing the end of its lifespan and has some holes in it already.

He recommended replacing the roof within the next two years and estimated the cost at $2.8 million.

He also recommended completing other masonry repairs, including re-pointing some brick, powerwashing as well as demolishing and replacing a half wall, as a package, which adds another $196,500 to the cost of the repairs, according to the schedule he presented.

Rating the problems the building faces on a scale of one to five, five being the worst, Keiffer said his firm’s review, which designed the recent high school and renovation project, found “15 fours,” and the roof is among them.

As the high school project winds down — the board approved $90,244 on invoices from that project — discussions about budget and future capital needs have arisen in recent months.

Budget surpluses from recent years have been used shunted into two reserve funds — the capital reserve fund and a reserve to cover increases in pension payments — at the recommendation of Business Manager David Nester.

Last year, the capital reserve fund stood at about $7.3 million, which would allow the middle school work to be undertaken without borrowing more money.

That work at the middle school is part of the estimated $7 million in capital projects the district anticipates having to undertake in the coming years, Nester has told the board repeatedly.

The board also put about $1.5 million more into the capital reserve fund after some tangled budget conditions in Harrisburg resulted in Pottsgrove having a $2.3 million surplus.

In January, Nester gave the board its first broad look at a draft budget that saw a $2 million gap between revenues and expenditures, a deficit which has since been narrowed as the year progresses and the budget estimates come into sharper focus.

“You don’t want water getting into your building over an extended period of time. That just creates more problems.” — James Keiffer, KCBA Architects