CROTHERSVILLE — The roofs and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit on the Crothersville Community Schools building are 20 years old.

Since there have been issues in recent years and they have reached their life expectancy, the corporation put together a committee to research options to have them replaced in 2022.

The committee, consisting of Superintendent Terry Goodin and board of school trustees members Jaime Land and John Riley, also researched rooftop solar panels.

In the end, it was determined installing the solar panels could save the corporation around $114,000 per year on electricity bills.

Considering all of the benefits, the board of school trustees approved moving forward with the project.

During the most recent meeting, the roof portion of the project was awarded to Royalty Roofing of Seymour. The total roof cost will be $1.1 million.

While the solar and HVAC portions of the project have not been awarded yet, the project bonds, totaling $3.7 million, were approved by the board during the meeting. Bond payments will be biannually through 2040 through the corporation’s debt service fund.

“When we looked at fixing the roof, we thought about ‘Is there a way or opportunities we can save the school money in other areas?’ and one of those is by installing solar, so we looked at that, did feasibility on it and it looked great, so really, it was kind of a no-brainer,” Goodin said.

PSG Energy Group of Indianapolis reviewed the current state of the school building’s roofs, conducted core samples and walked the site with school officials and several roofing contractors. Upon review, it was identified that the roofs are aging and due for replacement.

PSG invited three contractors to submit bids: R. Adams Roofing Inc. and Danco Roofing Services Inc., both of Indianapolis, and Royalty Roofing. The first two chose not to submit bids because of concerns of being unable to meet the project schedule due to current lead times on roofing material. R. Adams also noted concerns with being unable to compete with the other bidders.

Royalty committed to being able to successfully meet the project schedule of February and/or March for the noted scope of work, and it also is a local contractor that had completed roofing work for the school in the past. So PSG proposed selecting Royalty for the project.

Some of the building’s roof sections have two or three layers, while others only have one. Those with more than one layer will receive a partial tear-off and disposal to bring the roofs back down to a single layer of roofing. The sections would then be reroofed with a new membrane on the roof and a new cover sheet and membrane up and over parapet walls.

Also included in the roofing scope are the installation of new perimeter fascia metal and gutters, installation of new walk pads, removal and patching of abandoned roof curbs, new stacks/curbs/flashings around all penetrations, installation of two-way roof vents and installation of any solar anchors required for the solar array per final design.

A 20-year extended warranty is included with the new roof.

“We’ve had a few little leaks here and there, and before they get bad, we decided we want to be proactive and not let this become a problem,” Goodin said. “All of it kind of fell together. It’s all about timing on a lot of things, and the timing was right for all of it. … The timing just seemed to work out perfect.”

Since solar has become very popular in a lot of areas, Goodin said he requested information from PSG, and that company followed proper protocol through the state to get it implemented.

The closest school Goodin knows that uses solar panels is East Washington School Corp. in Pekin. Superintendent Dennis Stockdale shared information with the Crothersville committee.

“We did our research on it,” Goodin said. “Nothing better than being able to save money, plus help the environment at the same time. We’re doing our part here in this little bitty green area of Earth called Crothersville and Vernon Township. We’re doing our part to make things better, and we’re going to save money at it, so it’s kind of the best of both worlds.”

Also as part of the solar project, there will be a monitoring station inside a classroom, so students will be able to use the data that comes from the system in science and math classes, Goodin said.

“It’s just an exciting project, and we’re anxious to get the thing rolling and start saving money but also giving kids the opportunity to learn in the meantime,” he said.

Goodin said the completion date for the roof and solar project is June 1, and the HVAC work will be done sometime after that.