Medomak Valley High School’s failing septic system will not be replaced until summer 2025, RSU 40 Facilities Director Brian Race told the district’s board of directors at a meeting on Wednesday, July 3.
The delay will give the district time to prepare for the project and, in the meantime, to accomplish another necessary renovation: the replacement of Union Elementary School’s “100% failed” roof, which will occur this summer.
More time is needed to design and plan for the septic system, Race said, including accounting for the possible transplanting of the historic and rare trees currently growing in the school’s Living History Arboretum, which sits atop one site currently being eyed for the new septic field.
“While we certainly need to replace (the septic system), it’s going to take some planning,” Race said. “We are unable to make it happen this summer.”
At the meeting, the RSU 40 Board of Directors signed off on a plan to first address the Union Elementary School roof this summer and push the replacement of the failing MVHS septic system to summer 2025.
Part of the funding for these capital improvement projects will come from an additional $1 million added to the 2024-2025 facilities budget by taxpayers on the floor of the RSU 40 district-wide budget meeting on May 14.
At the budget meeting, some residents voiced an expectation that the funding be applied to the specific purpose of replacing the failing septic system at MVHS. Chair Danny Jackson told the crowd that, though the board was now aware of their intent for the addition, protocol dictates that the final designation of the funding still lies with the board.
While Race named the MVHS septic system as one of his top two capital improvement priorities for the district during the July 3 meeting, the other, he said, was the roof at Union Elementary School.
In a phone interview on Tuesday, July 9, Race said the Union Elementary School roof had received a 100% failing grade in an inspection performed by Industrial Roofing Co., of Lewiston.
The current roof at Union Elementary School is made of a layer of rubber held in place with weights, Race said. Over time, the material has degraded, with gaps appearing between seams and, in places, holes letting streams of rainwater into the building that Business Manager Karen Pike said employees must use 50-gallon drums to collect.
“Consider (the roof) like a shirt that gets thread-worn,” Race said. “It’s still there – but it’s much thinner than it once was.”
While the district has a backup plan to pump out the MVHS septic system, there is no plan for what to do if the Union Elementary School roof’s condition worsens, Race said.
The roof can be completed in a matter of weeks, while replacing the septic system would require extensive planning, Race said. Some of the planning involved in replacing the septic system will involve determining where it will go.
For the drainage field component of the septic system, which releases liquid waste, soil composition is an important factor, Race said. Core samples taken across the grounds of MVHS indicated that one area in particular has ideal soil for a drainage field: the corner of the property at the intersection of Manktown Road and Miller Road, where the Medomak Valley High School Living History Arboretum grows.
The arboretum, a project of longtime MVHS educator and horticulturalist Neil Lash, contains more than 30 trees of rare varieties and historical significance, including trees from the battlefields of Gettysburg and Antietam and an apple tree believed to be traceable to Johnny Appleseed himself, according to information published by the arboretum.
Preserving the trees is an important consideration in planning the septic system, Race said.
“The trees are a part of the campus. They hold a lot of historical significance. Amongst that area of expertise, (the arboretum) is world renowned,” he said.
The district is currently talking with landscaping contractors to discuss the feasibility of moving the trees, according to Race. Therefore, the future location of a new septic system is still undetermined.
“We’re still evaluating. That was just an initial assessment that was done,” Race said. “That location may not be the spot that we end up doing it. A lot’s going to depend on how easily the trees can be transplanted … and how much it would cost.”
Other ideas have been floated for the septic system’s future home, including placing the drainage field underneath a parking lot, Race said. The design will also depend on the type of septic system the district decides to install, which is also something that has yet to be determined.
The type of septic field that could be hidden beneath a parking lot may be less optimal a design than other options, according to Race.
RSU 40 is working with energy savings company Energy Efficient Investments Inc., of Merrimack, N.H., to complete renovations, an alignment that Race proposed after an $81 million capital improvement bond, which encompassed both the Union Elementary School roof and MVHS septic system among other improvements, was defeated by voters in November 2023.
Race and Energy Efficient Investments Inc. representative Kerri Warms said they hoped more of the capital improvements previously encompassed by the bond could be completed within the next few years with the assistance of state funding and rebates.
The next meeting of the RSU 40 Board of Directors will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 18, in the district’s central office at 1070 Heald Highway in Union. For more information, go to rsu40.org or call 785-2277.
