Board OKs oven upgrade at Medford elementary school

A safety upgrade in one building will have benefits in the food service for another.

At Monday’s school board meeting, board members approved purchasing a new Combi Oven for Medford Area Elementary School which will replace two steamer ovens currently in use at the building. One of the steamers will then be taken to Stetsonville Elementary School for use in the kitchen there.

Food service director Jody Reilly explained that there have been several instances of staff getting hot water on them when they opened them to take out food.

“Some people have received a bath,” Reilly said during the finance committee meeting that preceded the school board meeting. She referred to a steamer that was situated requiring staff to reach above themselves to remove trays of food. With the water at 210 degrees this presents a potential for injury.

“I don’t want to see anyone hurt,” said finance director Audra Brooks, describing the needed replacement as primarily a safety concern.

The single side-opening steamer unit is not large enough by itself for the kitchen needs at the elementary school, but Reilly said it will accommodate the needs at Stetsonville Elementary School where they do not currently have a steamer.

The steamer is used to heat the food because it helps keep it from drying out.

The cost of the new Combi Oven is expected to be between $25,000 and $30,000 with the money coming from the district’s food service accounts. Audra noted there weren’t too many vendors for that type of specialized product and that buildings and grounds director Adam Schwarz was in the process of working to get quotes.

The district’s food service account is where the revenues from the food program are placed. Under federal and state rules the district is limited on how it can spend that money with replacement of the food service equipment a high priority.

Board members unanimously approved the purchase of the new Combi Oven.

Building project update

The office addition project at Medford Area Senior High school is nearing completion. According to Schwarz, while contractors may not meet the target date of having it fully open when school resumes in January following the Christmas break, it will be very close.

The project was budgeted to be $1.8 million and Brooks estimated that when completed it will be about $125,000 over budget. District administrator Pat Sullivan explained that some of the additional costs were due to things such as adding additional outlets and data points to meet office equipment needs as well as the removal of asbestos from the old offi ce space. The project is expected to be about 7% over budget when it is completed. Finance committee chairman Brian Hallgren said it is normal to have overages in a construction project and that with the additional costs it was reasonable.

The office expansion and remodeling was made possible using federal COVID relief ESSER funds. By using the grant dollars in other parts of the budget, the district was able to free up the money for the construction project.

Board members also got an update on the house building project being undertaken by the district’s building trades class.

Last year, the city of Medford donated a building lot to the school district for the class to build a home on. When completed, the district plans to sell the home and use the proceeds to pay for the materials to build another home next year.

The materials cost for the home was budgeted at $280,000. However, the current projection is that the materials price will be about $300,000. Sullivan said he had a discussion with the realtors who will be working with the district to sell the home when completed and said it is still at a reasonable amount for a sale value.

It was noted that the program is utilizing and has been supported heavily by local vendors with Klingbeil’s giving a discount on the lumber used and Sierra Pacific donating windows to the project. As of Monday’s meeting, the district had spent about $240,000 at local businesses for purchases related to the home construction.

“We are doing this for the education of the students,” Hallgren said. The intent of the program is to serve as a capstone project for the building trades program at the school and prepare students to enter the trades.

In other business, board members:

Heard from Medford city coordinator Joe Harris who came to the board thanking them for allowing the city to use the school district office parking lot for the downtown Tuesday Farmers Market. The lot was being used for the weekly farmer’s market while the parking lot on Whelen Ave. was being redeveloped with the construction of a splash pad and pavilion.

Approved redoing the line of credit at AbbyBank reducing the interest rate from 7% to 6.75%. The district maintains the line of credit to help with cash flow between state aid payments and tax collections. Brooks had noticed rates had come down and approached the bank about getting a lower rate for the line of credit that had been approved last summer.

Discussed feedback from the community district needs discussion held earlier this month. Board members said they felt there was a good dialogue. There will be an additional meeting on January 24 at 6 p.m. with resident Dave Koester running the meeting.