LPOSD hears plans for HVAC updates

SANDPOINT – HVAC upgrades and more coming to schools in the Lake Pend Oreille School District.

LPOSD District Facilities Director David Diel updated the school board on the plans as well as recommendations for two different HVAC upgrade packages.

The first upgrade package is for special education therapy rooms at Sandpoint Middle School and Northside Elementary. The upgrades are currently on hold as the district did not receive any bids for this project.

Diel said the reason is that ventilators in school class rooms “are being replaced by the thousands across the country” and there is limited equipment availability to contractors. That stretched the time of the project, inevitably keeping contractors from completing the work by the original deadline. Diel recommended removing all small special ed remodels from the bid package and to rebid for the ventilation in the SMS and Northside therapy rooms in hopes of having that portion of the project completed this summer.

The second package is larger, comes with a 2024 spending deadline and will upgrade the HVAC systems in high traffic student areas.

Due to the size of the project, and equipment availability, Diel recommended the district put the project out for rebid with a higher pay track and an extended August 2023 completion. Some of the work will be completed this summer and will conclude when school begins in August of this year. The board agreed, allowing Diel to move forward with his reccomendations, and submit bids for approval on this project at a later time.

Once the discussion on the HVAC upgrades concluded the board went on to award bids for several other upgrade projects. Among those awards was a $424,250 bid for the Child Nutrition warehouse, that project will be done by Darden Enterprises, with construction beginning this summer.