Riverside maintenance director warns aging boilers, pipes and HVAC left district 'playing with some borrow time'

The district’s Director of Maintenance reported multiple equipment failures tied to an unusually cold period and urged the board to accelerate facilities planning to address decades-old piping and mechanical systems.

The director told the board that a supply fan at one school burned out and staff sourced a motor from Macedonia to restore heat the same day. He said a hot-water circulator line at John R developed leaks while the media-center heating coil developed three holes; maintenance brazed the coil and restored service within about an hour and a half.

Why it matters: many interior mechanical systems and piping are original, the director said, increasing the risk of future failures and surprise repair costs. He described steam and sanitary piping in some buildings dating to the 1950s–1960s and warned that, because lines are encased in insulation, leaks can take time to be noticed. "We are playing with some borrow time in my opinion with some of these infrastructure items," he said.

What was proposed: the director presented a condition-assessment option: thermal imaging flown over district facilities to detect roof and parking-lot moisture and hidden defects. He said a representative named Jake Kemp with Ram Construction provided a proposal; the director circulated the paperwork for board review. Board members asked whether such scans are eligible as a permanent-improvement (PI) expenditure and requested PI budget detail before committing to districtwide scans.

Costs and alternatives: the director contrasted aerial thermal scans with more labor-intensive "boots on the roof" inspections; one smaller roof scan previously cost about $44,000. The director estimated the district footprint at about 404,000 square feet for planning purposes and noted vendors typically hold quotes for roughly 30 days.

Next steps: board members requested a standing PI-budget update in grounds/buildings meetings and asked project leads to return with cost estimates and a recommendation about whether to pursue a districtwide thermal scan or targeted assessments.