SUNDERLAND – Town officials heard good and bad news at the elementary school on May 3. An oil tank may need replacement in the near future, an expensive prospect, but right now there’s plenty of money to redevelop a playground for the youngest students.

Shelley Poreda, director of business administration for Frontier Regional School District, told officials that the project to redevelop the pre-kindergarten/kindergarten playground has a budget of $310,000, fully funded. Bids for the project that includes a rubberized surface, new play structures, landscaping, sidewalks, curbing, drainage and pavement were due back from interested contractors by April 22.

“We’ll get the contract signed, construction to start no sooner than June 1,” Poreda said, “with a target completion date of the beginning of the school year, but no later than Oct. 15.”

Four bids from local companies ranged from $140,000 to $277,000. The Selectboard voted to award the contract to Omasta Landscaping, the second lowest bidder. The low bid package was disqualified because it did not submit references for projects similar to the Sunderland playground. The contract with the town was awarded to the Hadley-based company for $178,488.28.

About $10,100 will go toward two so-called alternates, optional elements of the project. The first alternate is a peak climbing boulder, purchased by the district, to be installed by Omasta. The second alternate is a sand box.

Poreda told town officials that $200,000 of the funding will come from Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds, with another $75,000 from various grants secured to the town. Another $9,000 accrued through a grant from Home Depot for a new shed. Additional equipment purchases increased the total cost to about $275,000.

“We have a good nearly $30,000 for contingency,” Poreda said. “The extra funding, some of it has already been spent on equipment that we’ve purchased.”

The hefty contingency prompted Peter Gagarin, secretary for the School Committee, to question whether the project would be completed in stages, which appeared the case with so much money left over.

“Obviously … we have significant funds that are not committed here,” Gagarin said. “There was some question how much we would get done this year, and how much would be put off a year if we didn’t have the funds.”

Poreda affirmed the contracted work will be completed this year. She also commented the district realized significant savings by buying playground equipment directly from distributors, rather than through the contractor, to save a significant percentage in mark ups. Thomas Fydenkevez, chair of the Selectboard, lauded the strategy. Poreda then spoke well of the partnership with Berkshire Design Group.

“This is the third project we’ve done with Berkshire Design,” Poreda said, “so we have a really good, trusting, strong relationship, and trust them to handle that oversight for us.”

General oversight of the school facility on Swampfield Drive is the responsibility of William Hildreth, director of facilities for the district. Hildreth took the school meeting as a chance to introduce the committee and board to a project that shouldn’t be ignored, an aging oil tank and monitoring equipment.

Earlier this month, Hildreth had the tank tested, which resulted in a failure of one out of two tests. He led the group out to the tank, buried on the east side of the school, opposite the solar installation. Hildreth explained that a new spill containment manhole and leak detection system would be a good idea.
After researching costs he said, “$9,000 for the replacement of the leak protection, $3,000 for new spill containment.”

The numbers for monitoring and safety equipment are a small piece of the cost of replacing the tank itself, which would be in the six figures. According to Hildreth, the tank is 33 years old.

“I really don’t know if there’s a recommended lifetime,” Hildreth said. “Obviously, it won’t last forever. That’s why we do the testing of the tank, to check the integrity of the tank.”

Hildreth also mentioned the difference between buried and above ground tanks. Tanks are buried primarily for aesthetic reasons, but the costs may not be substantially less.

“When you put it in the ground, you put leak protection on it,” Hildreth said. “When you put it above ground, you want to include leak protection, but you have to build a wall around it. In an emergency, that containment wall has to hold five hundred gallons, so that’s a pretty good cost.”

Hildreth began making calls to equipment dealers last week. District and town officials have been alerted to the need to plan ahead to replace the oil tank.
Hildreth said, “We started that [planning] process by starting that conversation.”