WARWICK — A grant awarded to Warwick to fund improvements to its elementary school will still be available if the use of the building changes, Selectboard Chairman Doc Pruyne confirmed.
Earlier this month Warwick and Northfield both were awarded grants from the state Department of Energy Resources that are to be used on renovations to Pioneer Valley Regional School, Warwick Community School and Northfield Elementary School.
The grants were part of the Department of Energy Resources’ Green Communities program, and were awarded to fund towns’ projects to improve energy efficiency or transition to renewable energy sources. The upper limit for the awards was $250,000. Northfield was granted about $245,000, and Warwick was granted about $226,000.
“For us to get the full amount was wonderful and surprising,” said Northfield Energy Committee Co-Chair Susan O’Connor.
Northfield and Warwick applied for the grants together. They were the only towns to do so of the 80 towns that received grants. O’Connor said that the Department of Energy Resources would likely take Warwick and Northfield’s work as a model for how other regional school districts could coordinate similar projects.
“I think it underscores the importance of us doing this well,” O’Connor said. “I think they (the Department of Energy Resources) will be watching how we handle this.”
Because the possibility of closing Warwick’s school continues to be discussed due to the Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s ongoing financial issues, there was initially some concern among Warwick’s Selectboard and Buildings and Energy Committee over whether a school closure would make the town liable for the grant money.
Pruyne confirmed in a phone call with a Department of Energy Resources representative on Tuesday that if the school were closed, the town would still be entitled to the grant money so long as the building were still in use. Pruyne mentioned that if the school were closed, the building could be used as senior housing or office space for town employees.
The renovation projects for which the two towns received their grants are mainly upgrades to electrical systems, heating and cooling systems and insulation at the three schools.
The projects will be broken into smaller sub-projects, said Warwick Buildings and Energy Committee Chairwoman Janice Kurkoski, and the smaller sub-projects will be completed one at a time.
Work on the schools can only be done when school is not in session, Kurkoski said, so it must be done in August before school starts Aug. 27 and during school vacations throughout the year.
The projects must be completed by May 2019 per the terms of the grant. In the event that the work is not finished by then, Kurkoski said, the town will simply return the money it hasn’t spent, then perhaps apply for it again next year.
The Northfield Energy Committee and the Warwick Buildings and Energy Committee have not yet contracted anyone to do the work.