Holley capital committee meets, chooses chairman

A cross-section of the Holley community came out to discuss the district's facility improvement plans and Superintendent Robert D'Angelo said it was "great to see so many people take an active role and interest in the future of the buildings and our children."

The meeting, on December 4, was to introduce the committee members, elect a chairperson and distribute copies of the building condition surveys that were undertaken. "The committee's task now is to review and prioritize items on the survey and to put together a package that we will eventually submit to the board of education for review," he said.

D'Angelo said he hopes to have information and facts and figures gathered for presentation by mid-January. 'The longer we wait to move forward the more likelihood there will be of being faced with increased costs for building materials and supplies," he said.

No stranger to capital projects, D'Angelo said if Holley approves a project, it will be his third.

Ed Morgan, who is the highway superintendent in the Town of Murray, was chosen as the chairperson of the committee. "He lives in the community, is a well-respected member of it, and is familiar with how projects of this scope work," D'Angelo said.

The committee's next meeting will be December 13 at 5:30 p.m. in the district's bus garage, followed by a tour of the high school building. "It's important for the committee members to see the areas of the school we may be addressing in a capital project," he said.

Officials in the district are required to submit a five-year plan to the State Education Department and while going through that process, they compiled a wish list for its buildings, D'Angelo said. "We looked at the middle/high school building, which was constructed in 1975 and decided to use that as a starting point for areas in need of improvement," he said.

The district formed a community forum and provided the community with information on a potential capital project and decided to form a capital improvement committee to perform visual inspections of the buildings and make recommendations to the board.

The district has no figures attached to any project at this point. "We are still in the exploration phase," he said.

Because of new aid that is available through the Children's Education and Learning Capital Program (EXCEL), he said the district is in a "very favorable position" to defray construction costs on any necessary project.

It could be March 2007 before costs could be determined for any capital project.

December 10, 2006