The Tamaqua Area School Board on Tuesday moved forward with a $2.99 million contract for infrastructure upgrades and energy savings.

The board first heard from representatives from the McClure Company of Harrisburg, the firm selected to undertake the district-wide project that guarantees $2 million in savings over the next 20 years.

The McClure firm is a long-term partner with the district having completed another Guaranteed Energy Savings project under Act 163 that saved the district $6 million and continues to work with the district, said Alyssa Wingerfield, a professional engineer who worked on that project and is now a company vice president.

“We service the Tamaqua Area School District from our Wilkes-Barre office, where we have 22 full-time service technicians,” she said. “About 10 to 14 of those individuals actually live either in Tamaqua or the surrounding area.

“We are definitely committed to the district and the local community as well,” she told the board.

The project includes needed upgrades to the middle school boiler and chiller, which are expected to cost more than $1.1 million, a high school pool upgrade, which comes in at $517,180; replacing a failing computer classroom heating/cooling unit, a water filtration system at the middle school and lighting retrofits in all the schools.

The majority of energy savings come from the LED lighting retrofits, but the Guaranteed Energy Savings program allows the district to move ahead with needed replacements, such as boilers and chillers, Superintendent Ray Kinder said.

The board had raised questions about what if the district didn’t get the grants its seeking for some of these upgrades, and Kinder explained that the upgrades are still needed.

“We’re going to be spending this money on chillers, in one way, shape or form,” he said, pointing out that the money is set aside in capital project funds for these upgrades.

The district has already secured $500,000 in grant funding for the project and could receive as much as $1.2 million in grant funding, Kinder said.

The board approved the guaranteed energy savings agreement with McClure for the upgrades at the high school, middle school and both elementary schools at a cost not to exceed $2,992,970.

The guaranteed energy and operational savings under the program are $2,079,015 over the next 20 years.

Work on the upgrades is expected to begin this summer with some continuing into the school year due to the lead time on the equipment needed.