Nearly complete

Renovations that have been in the construction phase for more than two years are in their final stages.
The majority of the work on the $3.4 million renovation project at Fort Recovery High School is complete, with only a handful of finishing touches remaining. The bulk of the project, for which construction began in May 2012, included updates to the school’s electrical system, plumbing and heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) systems.
“It’s great,” said Fort Recovery Local Schools superintendent Shelly Vaughn of finally seeing the project coming to fruition. “It’s been a long process.
“We started exploring options for either renovating this building or relocating ... back in 2006. … So it feels great to be almost complete, and to have been able to do so many things beyond what we originally thought in the scope of the project.”
The scope has grown from the original plans after bids came in about $500,000 less than the projected total of $3.4 million.
In looking at what to add to the project with the leftover funds, which must be spent by the end of 2014, school officials first went back to the list of items that were cut prior to putting a 2.7-mill levy on the ballot in November 2011.
Leading the list were security measures that include new locks with an electronic key card system, cameras and an intercom. With those improvements all doors will be locked during school hours with the exception of the main entrance off of Butler Street, and all visitors to FRHS will be funneled through the main office.
“In my opinion, that was a no-brainer,” said building and transportation supervisor Kurt Wendel. “Once the money was available, that was for sure the goal. Once this is done, it’s going to be a secure place.”
The extra money allowed for additional plumbing improvements throughout FRHS, a new HVAC system in the vocational and agricultural area on the east side of the building and updates to the kitchen. And one of the last additions will be the restructuring of a science classroom to move lab equipment to the exterior walls in order to create a more user-friendly teaching environment.
There have also been a variety of more visible changes, the most prominent of which is a new parking lot on the north side of the school accompanied by new landscaping.
The gravel parking lot on the south side of Fremont Street will also be expanded. Other additions include new doors for classrooms and Fort Site Fieldhouse, desks, ceiling tile in the gym lobby and carpet throughout the building.
In the last month, workers have rehabbed the exterior of the building, removing and repairing areas of brick that were falling out, resealing windows and power washing.
“The ability to do that mason work not only makes this building maintenance-free for a long, long time, but also really enhances the appearance of the building,” said Vaughn. “It kind of brought it back to life.”
The renovation of the building came after years of discussion about whether to keep the high school at its current location or create a single campus with a new building to the east of the elementary/middle school on Sharpsburg Road.
Voters rejected a 2010 proposal for a new $10.9 million structure — about half of the money would have come from tax dollars and the other half from the Ohio School Facilities Commission — by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. So school officials went back to the drawing board and created a renovation plan, which voters approved a year later.
The project began in at the end of the 2011-12 school year with the demolition of the 1935 section of the building on the southwest corner of the school property. A new activity center, which is connected to the high school, was constructed in that area in a separate project funded by Fort Recovery Athletic Boosters. The center is nearly complete, with flooring expected to be installed by Aug. 8, and an open house is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 20.
Workers led by general contractor Muhlenkamp Building Corporation of Coldwater, Ohio, replaced plumbing, electrical wiring and the HVAC system in the FRHS math/science wing during the summer of 2012. Those systems were upgraded in the remainder of the building last summer.
“My biggest fear once we have an open house is that somebody is going to come in here and say, ‘Where did $3.4 million go? Well, it’s behind doors like that,” said Wendel, pointing to a boiler room that was gutted and is now filled with new equipment. “It’s in the crawl space. It’s in the ceilings. We should be good to go for a long period of time.”
The HVAC work shifted the school from a boiler system to one that uses variable refrigerant flow (heat pump) with an electronic backup in case of extremely cold weather.
Among the plumbing improvements are the addition of isolation valves, which allow water to be turned off in isolated areas. Previously if one toilet or drinking fountain was out of service, water would have to be shut down throughout most of the building in order to make repairs.
After more than two years of construction, school officials are excited to see the project nearing the finish line and are happy with the results.
“I’m pleased. It’s one of those things that’s kind of been a drawn out process over time, but you’ve seen little pieces every day,” said Hobbs. “It’s going to be a building that’s very usable and user-friendly for kids for 20, 30, 40 years. I think that’s what we envisioned when we started.”