The Tamaqua Area School Board will consider contracting with a national facility planning and construction firm for a district-wide facility assessment at no cost for one year.

On Tuesday, the board’s finance committee advanced a one-year contract with SitelogIQ for the assessment, which will allow the district to plan for capital improvements, for full board approval next week.

“It’s really good data to have on our buildings in terms of major systems, useful for capital planning,” Business Manager Connie Ligenza said.

Superintendent Dr. Stephen Toth explained that the firm takes the district’s facility data and runs it through an algorithm, which shows what the facility system’s lifespans are.

The district will learn what updates or improvements are critical and what ones can wait, and the program also projects costs associated with those repairs now and five years from now, he said.

“It will provide us a lifespan of the actual things that we have in our facility system, and tell us what we need to fix, what we don’t need to fix, what we might be able to kick the can down the road with,” Toth said.

“But it gives a good projection at least where to start,” he said.

The assessment is not only system specific but building specific, Ligenza said.

The district’s last feasibility study, she said, was done before the pandemic, making it seven or eight years old.

SitelogIQ has presented twice to the district and usually charges a fee for its services but is allowing the district to work with them for one year at no charge, Ligenza said.

The caveat is the firm would like to use Tamaqua’s aggregated data in a statewide facility study to present to state lawmakers in an attempt to resurrect the state’s PlanCon program.

The program used to reimburse school districts for major building renovations and construction. Tamaqua built its middle school through the program, receiving 12% or 13% reimbursement rate on debt service for 30 years, Ligenza said.

She recommended going forward with the contract, which will provide the district with “very valuable capital planning date to use in the future.

“We’re not obligated to continue with them,” Ligenza said.

The information shared for the state study would not only benefit Tamaqua Area, but other districts across the state, she said.