West Orange School Admin Gives ‘Building & Grounds’ Update

WEST ORANGE, NJ — There’s no shortage of activity in the West Orange Public School District when it comes to “building and grounds,” administrators say.

Director of Buildings and Grounds Michael Cimmino presented a year-end overview of completed and in-progress projects during the Dec. 6 board of education meeting.

Cimmino, who began working in the West Orange School District in February, recently hired West Orange High School Class of 2008 graduate Nicholas Munoz as assistant director. Both have 16 years of experience in the field, administrators said.

Highlights of their presentation – which can be seen online here – included:

• The Buildings & Grounds department applied for a FEMA Covid-19 grant and will be receiving $753,240
• The district hired a full-time plumber to add to the three in-house carpenters, two electricians, two HVAC engineers, locksmith, and outsourced contractors when necessary.
• Between February 1 and November 1, the department received 3,342 work orders from district buildings. 2,720 were completed and closed, while 562 were still "works in progress."

Work orders that remain open as "works in progress" are due to lead time for supplies/parts as well as scheduling for breaks in the school calendar, Cimmino noted.

However, the department has a work order closure percentage of 81 percent, meaning only 19 percent of the work orders were ongoing at the time of the data report, Cimmino said.

Completed and ongoing projects include:

• Building two shot-put fields at WOHS
• Replacing the Gregory heating system/ boiler that tempers the cafeteria
• Liberty lighting update
• Replacing dilapidated retaining wall along Franklin Ave at the Washington School
• Replacing roof sections of roofing at Mt. Pleasant, Edison Middle School, and WOHS
• Replacing one boiler at Roosevelt Middle School
• Replacing the water heater at Hazel School
• Restoring Gregory façade at gymnasium addition
• Replacing Kelly PA system
• Replace Edison Middle School fire systems
• Refurbishing Gregory Boys Bathroom
• Refurbishing dilapidated exterior stairwells at Roosevelt Middle School
• Replacing collapsing wall in the courtyard at Edison Middle School, as well as replacing the grass with pea gravel to ensure proper drainage so the area can be used every day.
• Completing automation of the hot water heating systems in all district buildings
• In the process of automating all of the steam heating systems
• Installing HVAC Mechanical Systems in 11 spaces at Mt. Pleasant Elementary School
• Installing HVAC Mechanical Systems needed within each school
• Installation of flooring at various district buildings and locations
• Repairing/Restoring Kelly School after Hurricane Ida flooding in six days allowing the school to open on time
• Ground and tree maintenance and removal

District officials continued:

“In addition to the specific projects listed, ongoing regulatory compliance projects like water purification safety, QSAC, Fire Inspections, boiler inspections, and boiler combustion adjustments continue. Pandemic protocols remain in place with sanitization of all buildings nightly. The department is utilizing electrostatic sprayers to sanitize all areas of each building daily. The products used include Brutab and Bioesque cleaning agents. Air purifiers with Needlepoint Bi-Polar Ionizers have been placed in rooms where needed district-wide.”

According to district officials, cost savings projects include:

• Gregory facade complete replacement quoted at $2,500,000. Refurbished, watertight and freshly painted cost $83,000 = $2,416,400 cost savings.
• Liberty Lighting replacement quoted at $150,000. Redesign cost $27,962 = $122,038 savings.
• Mt. Pleasant Office Floor with contractor quote $23,000. Completed in-house for under $500 = $22,500 cost savings.
• Gregory Boys Bathroom complete renovation quoted at $80,000. Refurbished for under $1,000 = $79,000 cost savings.
• Shot Put fields built in-house for time and material. The project cost for materials was $2,510 for both fields. Unquoted but through some research the expected cost was $20,000 per field for a total of $40,000 = $37,490 cost savings.

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