Brunswick City Schools plans capital projects for next 10 years

BRUNSWICK — Brunswick Schools is looking to the future by planning out the capital projects it would like to do across the school district within the next 10 years. Director of Business Affairs Kent Morgan and Assistant Facility Operations Supervisor Carmen Brantelli gave presentations to the board of education on future projects in the district during its meeting Tuesday. In Fiscal Year 2026, Brunswick Schools made the following purchases using sales tax funding: About $1.6 million toward its certificate of participation loan. Nearly $800,000 toward technology. About $384,000 for three school buses. About $409,000 for textbook adoptions. Morgan said the district ended up spending around $66,500 less than what it budgeted for in its sales tax fund. Then, the district made the following purchases using its permanent improvement fund in fiscal year 2026: Nearly $45,000 for a fire panel at Crestview Elementary School. About $15,000 for floor abatement. Around $1.3 million each for a new chiller at Memorial Elementary School and Huntington Elementary School. $31,000 for new kitchen dishwashers at Huntington Elementary School. Just under $18,000 for a new walk-in cooler at Hickory Ridge Elementary School. $160,000 toward concrete, paving and sealing. "If you look at the Memorial chiller and the Huntington chiller, we had budgeted $950,000, and it came in substantially more, so that was really disappointing to us," Morgan said. "We had to jump on it really quick because they said it was 12 to 18 weeks or something in order to get it. They said you better order now if you want to get it in time for this summer." Some projects that were planned for fiscal year 2026 ended up being deferred, he said. The roof recoat on the transportation garage and the kitchen reach-in freezers at Hickory Ridge that were planned for this fiscal year have not happened yet. "We make a judgment if we have the monies to spend on that, or if we need to spend it, or if we can push it out for another year," Morgan said. Brantelli said the following projects are planned for Brunswick Schools starting next year: Variable air volume replacement at Memorial and Huntington in 2027. Memorial roof improvement project in 2027. Window replacement at Memorial and Huntington in 2028. Roof recoat at Applewood, Crestview, Kidder and Hickory Ridge in 2028. Unit ventilators replacement at Applewood in 2030, at Crestview in 2032 and at Kidder in 2033. "We don't want to have to replace or repair anything, but we do have it on the schedule preemptively," board President Mary Weinhauer said. "I think that's the only valid and intelligent way to attack the equipment that we have." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.