GLOVERSVILLE - The Gloversville Enlarged School District may purchase an ultraviolet water-filtration system for the Meco Elementary School building.
The school district would do so in anticipation of a likely state mandate that would require the school, which uses a well for its water, to either connect to a city water system or purchase some sort of system that would eliminate bacteria from water.
There is no such mandate yet, and Director of Operations Bill Ferguson stressed at a board meeting Monday the water in the school is of a high quality. But board members said they favored buying the UV system-which could cost the district $70,000-sooner rather than later, saying it would allow the district to be well prepared if it is required at some point to put in such a system.
"We would avoid a mandate, which would save a lot of money," board member Stanley DeVoe said.
A chlorination system also is an option, but Ferguson said a chlorination system must be regulated much more extensively than a UV model, and he said he did not favor it.
For the most part, board members agreed the district should soon formally consider the purchase. But Board President Pete Semione wondered whether it would be worth installing such a system in the school, saying he has questions about putting "a $70,000 system in a school we may or may not look to do something with one, two, five years down the road."
He said the district could consider closing the school in the future. But board members said they still favored buying the system.
"You enhance the salability of the building," Business Manager Steven Schloicka said.
There is a chance the $70,000 cost could come down. Ferguson said the bid for the project, submitted by BPI Contracting, included 298 man-hours of work, which he said was more than he expected. The actual system costs $20,000.
Board members asked Ferguson to look into the matter and see if they could reduce that number.
The project would be 98 percent reimbursable by state funds, since it is part of a capital project.
In other business, the board approved the creation of two new positions it will pay for with the portion of federal stimulus funds specifically targeted to special needs students.
The district approved a new social worker position, as well as a new truancy officer/youth aide officer.
The officer, who will come from the Gloversville Police Department, will work three hours per day. As part of the officer's duties, he or she will go to truant children's homes and determine why they are not at school.
Superintendent Robert DeLilli has said addressing truancy should have a positive effect on graduation rates, and the district receives more state aid when more children attend school.
Zach Subar can be reached at ruralnews@leaderherald.com
