Laserfiche WebLink
Mr. Nelson Fialho/Mr. David Haglund Page 27 <br />Preliminary Issues Assessment of Potential Colocation of Maintenance Facilities <br /> <br />In the summer of 2009, the District was in the process of developing a comprehensive, district - <br />wide facilities plan (bond issue) that, if approved, would have impacted every school district <br />building, including their vehicle maintenance building. The feasib ility study was put on hold <br />until after the bond vote. The ballot measure failed in December 2009 and failed again in March <br />of 2010. The District then decided to scale back the size of the facilities plan and a new fleet <br />maintenance facility was eliminated. <br /> <br />Nevertheless, in the spring of 2010 the District and City formed a Joint Fleet Management <br />Facility Committee (Committee) and gave the Committee the responsibility of moving the study <br />forward. Hunt Engineers & Architects was retained to complete the study, which was <br />published in March 2012. <br /> <br />The feasibility study included the following action plan: <br />• Evaluate the existing buildings of both entities to determine if either building would be <br />a good “candidate” for a building expansion. <br />• If both buildings were determined to be inadequate for expansion, provide a conceptual <br />design of a facility that would be large enough to accommodate the needs of both <br />entities. <br />• Perform site evaluations for a new building, including the existing two sites and other <br />sites in the immediate Corning area. <br />• Review staffing needs to determine if the fleet maintenance workload of the two entities <br />could be accommodated by combining and possibly reducing staff to save costs. <br />• Calculate cost savings of a new, shared fleet maintenance facility when compared with <br />constructing and operating two separate new facilities. <br /> <br />The study found that neither existing site was suitable for expansion. Two conceptual plans <br />were developed for a shared facility and four sites were studied as possible locations (three <br />owned by the City and one by the local utility company). Staffing leve ls at both City and <br />District were found to be adequate but not sufficient in size to warrant combining and reducing <br />staff to save costs. The Committee identified a preferred plan and location, with an estimated <br />price tag of $5.9 million. <br /> <br />The study also found that in addition to the benefits of having sufficient space and an upgraded <br />facility for fleet maintenance, the co-location project would benefit both City and District by <br />allowing joint purchasing of parts and supplies, and joint operation and use of a fueling station. <br /> <br />The Committee identified a source of state funding typically earmarked to help fund school <br />facilities projects. However, it also acknowledged that <br />The current fiscal crisis within the State of New York will likely impact state aid to both <br />the city and school district. With that in mind the committee realizes that, even though a <br />shared fleet maintenance facility would, over the long term, be a savings to taxpayers (vs. <br />new individual facilities) the implementation of the plan in the immediate future is <br />unlikely. <br />