The Stanly County Board of Education on Oct. 4 took action on several capital improvement projects listed as part of the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, none bigger than approving funds to replace the roof at Aquadale Elementary.

The board approved $220,000 from the capital outlay budget to go towards covering the cost of replacing Aquadale’s foam roof with a PVC roof. This is in addition to $300,000 the district recently received from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s public school building repair and renovation fund towards the roof project.

Of the total DPI funds, $270,000 is for construction of the new roof while the other $30,000 is for the design.

“What we got there is an old gravel foam that is in bad shape,” said SCS Director of Facilities and Maintenance Todd Bowers.

The replacement “is something that needs to be done,” he said.

The new roof would cover the main facility, the cafeteria and a small part of the gym, Bowers told the board.

While the bidding process has not started, Bowers said he feels confident the $520,000 appropriated for the project will be enough to cover all costs. Once bids are received, Bowers will come back before the board so it can formally approve of the contractor.

The board also made some adjustments in the capital outlay budget for other projects.

Bowers told the board that to install an awning at East Albemarle Elementary’s bus rider line, which was projected to cost $50,000, it would now cost around $70,000. The board approved the additional $20,000.

The board also approved $80,000 to replace a 60-ton DX (direct expansion) air conditioning unit on East Albemarle’s roof. The project was not included as part of the original capital budget that passed in the summer because Bowers did not know it needed to be replaced at the time.

Even with the three requests, Bowers said the the district is still under budget from the roughly $3.4 million the county commissioners approved for capital improvement projects.