MANKATO – Monday served as an important day for the Mankato Area School Board, as six of their seven members took part in a city-wide tour of some of the projects included in their Long Term Facility Maintenance Plan.
MAPS manages just shy of two million square feet of property; and the average age of their facilities is 53 years old, according to Board Member Patrick Baker. In order to keep facilities running, the school board has a rolling 10-year LTFM plan to address needs in the district.
“The need for our district to invest in our facility, so they can stay up-to-date, modern and able to serve the purposes that we built them for is really important.” Baker said. “Every year, we get the opportunity to do a set of investments into maintenance and upkeep into our facilities, and some of this stuff isn’t sexy or flashy, but it is really important to keep our schools safe, keep our schools secure, keep our schools functioning for the purposes that they were intended.”
As those projects come to a close, the board has the opportunity to tour the newly renovated spaces. It’s a step that allows them not only to check on what has been done, but to get an idea of what future similar projects might look like.
“We know what needs to be done, and what is expected to fail here soon. We try to stay proactive on replacing those,” Director of Facilities Scott Kaminski said. “Some of those projects (are) kind of the same scope of work and you’re going to have the same contractors down here bidding. … So, generally, prices come back a little bit lower knowing that they’re more confident doing something like that.”
Those projects highlighted on Monday’s tour included a domed roof at Hoover, a renovated auditorium space at Bridges and a new gym floor at Washington.
“I enjoyed seeing the auditorium at Bridges, because my kids were students at Bridges and so seeing that and showing them a picture was fun to see,” Kari Pratt, one of the board members in attendance, said.
While the price tag for some of these projects may be concerning to some, Baker puts why the projects need to be done simply.
“If we don’t invest, the buildings fall down,” he said. “What we are investing is a fraction of what we probably need to keep them.”
It’s a stance backed up by Superintendent Paul Peterson.
“Mankato has a long history of supporting critical infrastructure when it comes to its public schools,” Peterson said. “Deferred maintenance is just smart governance work by the Board.”