The renovation, expansion project at West Elementary nears completion.
“I’m happy to report that we, as of Friday morning, we are much, much closer to completion,” said Director of Schools Grant Swallows. “The Fire Marshal came to West Elementary Friday morning and did his next-to-the-last walk through and actually provided us with a temporary certificate of occupancy for the old cafeteria part. It will now be the new library and new computer lab.”
An update was provided to members of the county Education Committee on Monday night during a online Zoom conference session.
Tentative approval means the area has been deemed safe and can be used, even though the project is not 100 percent complete.
“The process to move in began on Friday,” said Swallows. “As I walked through the hall of West Elementary, the librarian said she was the happiest librarian in the nation, I believe were her words, to actually be able to move furniture in and set it up. I’ve actually seen some of the pictures, which I wish I could show you, of their new furniture. They will be working to set that up over the next few days.”
A final certificate of occupancy for the new library and computer lab, said Swallows, is pending completion of the elevator and “working out a few bugs with a couple of the fire alarm systems.”
Also being completed is a punch list of items, a document listing work that does not conform to contract specification. Those items must be completed by the contractor before the project is considered substantially complete.