SEQUIM — Sequim School District’s administration building could get its new boardroom by the end of 2022, according to the project manager who also is overseeing the district’s $15 million capital projects levy.
Funds for an expanded district boardroom will come from the district’s general capital projects fund and an Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant, Chris Marfori, a project manager with the Wenaha Group, told the Sequim School Board on March 21.
Those funds, totaling $715,000, will pay for the boardroom and installation of an elevator, allowing for full public access to the second-floor boardroom at 503 N. Sequim Ave.
The contract and design for the elevator has started, Marfori said.
The elevator’s second story landing would allow for quick access to the boardroom.
“This is just a first pass,” Marfori told board members as they looked at schematics of the proposed boardroom, one that would double the capacity for meeting attendees — from 28 to 56 — with room for attendees who need more space, such as those who use a wheelchair.
He said he expects the permitting process for the elevator to begin in June, with installation to begin by October and completion by December.
“Supply chain issues [are] probably the biggest dictator of when that happens,” he said.
The new boardroom’s design also features two large television screens and could be reconfigured for various purposes when not being used for board meetings, Marfori said.
“The vast majority of the time, I can see that room being used for other purposes,” Sequim school board president Eric Pickens said.
Marfori also detailed the activities his company expects to complete by next March with $2.985 million of the overall levy funding.
Projects set for the Tier 1 timeline are:
• A heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system at Sequim High School ($1.8 million).
• A district-wide fiber optic infrastructure update ($450,000).
• A roof recoat at Sequim Middle School ($310,000), a district voice systems replacement ($200,000).
• An HVAC upgrade ($100,000) and roof recoat ($65,000) for the Olympic Peninsula Academy gymnasium.
• A fire alarm system for portables at Helen Haller Elementary School ($60,000).
“All flat roofs have taken a priority for Phase 1,” Marfori said.
The fiber optic system upgrade is expected to be completed this summer, he said.
Student board representative Alisa Bibaj noted that Sequim High students would like to see the school’s track receive an upgrade. The oval lanes around the perimeter of the school’s multi-use field on West Fir Street are rutted to the point the school’s track and field team will not host a home meet this spring.
Voters in February 2021 approved the four-year, $15 million capital projects levy, and in a split (3-2) vote in June 2021, the school board voted to go with the Tacoma-based Wenaha Group — the company leading the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s Healing Clinic project — to oversee the projects.
In a September 2021 report to the board, Wenaha Group staff said they expect to have Tier 1, 2, 3 and 4 projects completed by 2026.
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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at editor@sequimgazette.com.
