CHESHIRE -- With the Hoosac Valley Middle & High School on Savoy Road completely renovated, maintenance is now on the minds of Adams-Cheshire Regional School District (ACRSD) officials.
A district subcommittee on maintenance, headed up by ACRSD committee member Stephen Vigna, is taking a look at the district's past five-year plans, hoping to update, recalculate and prioritize future projects at its schools.
Vigna and the rest of the committee hope to produce a document by November.
Apart from organizing particular projects in order of importance, Vigna pointed out at an ACRSD meeting Monday that establishing a stabilization fund and involving officials from both Adams and Cheshire, including Selectmen and finance committee members, is key.
District Superintendent Alfred Skrocki agreed with the necessity of a stabilization fund, saying that at budget time each year, maintenance costs tend to be isolated for trimming.
He suggested a capital outlay fund be established "with guidelines and a mechanism for depositing money and using funds to address needs in the buildings."
The resurfacing of Hoosac's new polyurethane track -- an expense that recurs over fixed time periods -- was used as an example of how the district can budget ahead.
Adams Town Administrator Jonathan Butler, Selectmen's Chair Arthur "Skip" Harrington and Cheshire Selectwoman Carol Francesconi have already been tapped for suggestions,
"We're going to put our heads together and decide what's the best avenue," Butler said at the meeting.
Also at the meeting, Skrocki announced that the district will join the ACE Foundation executive board to celebrate the foundation's 10th anniversary on Thursday, Oct. 25, at 6 p.m., in Hoosac's library.
The ACE foundation is a privately funded organization that provides grants to ACRSD students and staff. It's endowed by Berkshire Community Taconic Foundation and has given out nearly $300,000 in grants over its life.
"One of the things I think we've fallen short on over the years is advertising the good we do, and this is an opportunity to do that," Skrocki said.
Skrocki closed the meeting with a discussion of an upcoming project to tear down and replace the ailing Wacky World playground at C.T. Plunkett. The low bid for removal of the playground came in at $8,500, and officials aim to see it down by before winter.
Skrocki thanked the "community effort" that saw the playground erected while he was principal at C.T. Plunkett nearly 20 years ago.
"I want to make sure those people understand how much use [Wacky World] got and what an impact it made on the community for 20 years," Skrocki said.
Fundraising efforts to help cover the cost of replacing the playground with a smaller, plastic array will soon begin, officials said.
To reach Phil Demers, email
pdemers@thetranscript.com.
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