Mt. Judea HVAC project moving forward
Published 4:00 am Wednesday, June 3, 2026
MT JUDEA — The Deer – Mt. Judea school board voted to proceed with the $476,000 HVAC replacement project for the Mt. Judea gymnasium at a special meeting held on Thursday, May 28 at the Mt. Judea campus.
The special meeting’s primary agenda item was the required facilities training by Aliza Jones for the board members. This training was objectively the same that was provided to the board members last year, but was done again for the three new board members.
After the training, the board discussed the big red building at the Deer campus and the problem with having the high school across the highway in Mt. Judea.
According to Jones, there are viable options that the state would support and possibly partner on funding; previous DMJ school boards would not proceed with the options, based at least partly on the beliefs that the communities would not support those proposals.
During the discussion, with only Michael Rhoades absent, the board along with Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Nichols seemed willing to consider the options and present them to the public along with the fiscal situation if the status quo is maintained or if they undertake one or both options.
New board member Rodney Ellis suggested a tour of the facilities on both campuses, since he is unfamiliar with either and he wants a better understanding before making recommendations or decisions on them. The other board members and Nichols agreed, so they will be scheduling these in the near future.
The HVAC project, which has already received funding authorization for more than $700,000 – well above the best and lowest-cost bid of $476,000 – needed only board approval to move forward. There was a slight sense of urgency from the contractor as there is a three to four month lead time required to order and receive the HVAC units.
Because of the financial demographics of the DMJ community, the state will cover 80% of the cost of the project, leaving the district to cover the other 20%, which would be approximately $125,000. There was a concern about the overall fiscal situation for the district and whether it could afford this project.
Nichols indicated that she is preparing a detailed budget report and presentation for the regular scheduled meeting on June 8th. In general, according to Nichols, the district has approximately $3.7 million in its building fund, more than sufficient to cover this expense without jeopardizing other possible uses of those funds.
With the agreement by the contractor that they will provide the board with a comprehensive scope-of-work for the project by 5pm on Friday, May 29, the board voted to proceed with the project.
The next regular meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jun. 8 on the Deer campus.
