By JENNIFER CLAISE
Staff Writer
jclaise@yourneighborhoodnews.com

About 65 residents who turned out for a special School District Meeting Thursday, Oct. 14, overwhelmingly approved a warrant to set aside $100,000 for emergency roof repairs and water damage testing at Moore School.

The money is part of an extra, unexpected $280,000 the district received from a state adequate education grant. Officials had expected to receive just over $1 million from the state; instead, they received about $1.3 million.

School Board Chairman Karen Smith said cracking roof beams in the 1963 addition, which houses fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms and runs from the main office to the library, were discovered during a facility study this summer.

Structural engineer Peter Steffensen, of Steffensen Engineering Associates, Inc. in Auburn, was hired to assess the situation, and answered some of the voters’ questions during the meeting.

Steffensen said there are four joists in the 1963 wing that need to be repaired, and additional repairs might be required in an older section of the school.

However, students and employees at the school shouldn’t fear for their safety, he said.

“We’re not dealing with an immediate risk of collapse,” said Steffensen, who added that heavy snow loads combined with age likely caused the damage. “We just have some broken members that need to be fixed.”

After the roof is fixed, school officials will then use the remainder of the money to determine the cause of water damage to the middle-school wing, and begin necessary repairs.

Smith said water has been seeping up through the foundation in seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms at the school.

“We’ll use the remaining funds to investigate the water infiltration and do necessary repairs,” Smith said. “But our top priority is the safety of our students and employees, so that will come after the roof repair.”

School Board Vice Chairman Ingrid Byrd argued that $100,000 might be too high, since current estimates are about $10,000 for the roof repair and $14,000 to investigate the water damage.

Byrd proposed amending the warrant to $50,000, but voters declined.

“I’m not about to shortchange our kids. I certainly don’t want the roof to cave in,” Byrd said. “But I didn’t feel comfortable just sitting here recommending the $100,000 and knowing what the true cost is going to be.”

But the other school board members argued to keep the original amount, adding that any unused money will be returned to taxpayers along with the additional $180,000 to help offset the tax rate – something Joanne Sanseverino asked the board about.

The board also reassured one voter that these repairs wouldn’t be damaged by proposed renovations to the school, which could be approved by residents in March.

“No, we would not have to undo this work,” Smith said. “That’s something we looked into, and it’s money we would have had to spend as part of the renovation anyway.”

Smith said the roof repairs will likely take place during winter break when the school is empty. Business Administrator Sally Waterhouse said formal bids for the project will be submitted over the next few weeks, and a contractor should be chosen at the board’s November meeting.

Candia’s new tax rate had not been set at press time.