The Public School System is eager to begin chipping away at its $11-million deferred maintenance, $1 million of which has been characterized as \u201curgent health and safety\u201d deferred maintenance; however, a source of funding still need to be squared away.<\/p>\n
According to an Oct. 2 letter, PSS and the Board of Education have asked Gov. Eloy S. Inos to meet and discuss the funding status of phase 1 of an Office of Insular Affairs-backed initiative to address deferred maintenance in public schools.<\/p>\n
In a 2013 report, OIA flagged PSS 57 times for \u201chazardous\u201d conditions under electrical deferred maintenance.<\/p>\n
OIA has advised insular governors to set aside $1 million every year for five years from its annual federal Capital Improvement Project funds to address issues raised in the report.<\/p>\n
As of yesterday, the letter has yet to be acknowledged, according to board chair Herman Guerrero.<\/p>\n
Phase 1 of the initiative focuses on the electrical system upgrades needed in many of the decades-old public school buildings. Phase 1 is primarily but not limited to electrical systems and fire alarms, according to PSS.<\/p>\n
Other than electrical needs, other areas of priority are structure, exterior, plumbing, roofing, interior, and mechanical.<\/p>\n
These will be addressed with the remaining $4 million from years 2-5 of the OIA-recommended timeline.<\/p>\n
But even if PSS receives $5 million over a five-year period, $6.3 million of the outstanding deferred maintenance will still remain. <\/p>\n
The cost of deferred maintenance may continue to increase every year if the problems are not repaired and addressed, according to the PSS CIP office.<\/p>\n
Deferred maintenance is postponement measure for projects that are put on hold, where repairs are neglected and preventative maintenance is ignored.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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