The Camp Verde Unified School District didn’t qualify for a solar energy grant through APS, but that doesn’t mean the district won’t keep trying.
The district is working with a company called Climatec, School Facilities Director Stacey Barker said. That company is working with a another company, SolarCity, which has worked to help provide more than 20 school districts with solar power, according to Barker.
The paperwork was sent to APS on behalf of the school district at the beginning of May, Barker said.
The district was beaten out by two other school districts that scored higher on a point system APS uses to determine who gets the money, Barker said.
“We were beaten,” Barker said, “But that’s not it for us.”
Barker said he felt “strongly” that Camp Verde schools would make it onto the list sometime this year.
Even though the local district missed funding for the solar project this time around, Barker said the district’s application would be resubmitted every couple of months.
“If we don’t get it this year, then we’ll just keep applying until we get or we just give up,” Barker said.
Board member Trent Hackett said he’d like to see the district’s solar energy committee potentially reconvene to discuss future plans for the district’s facilities.
Barker also addressed the status of the district’s arsenic mitigation program. Due to tightening federal standards a decade ago over the acceptable levels of arsenic, the district was forced to find a way to keep the element out of its drinking water supply. The district went with a titanium-based filter system to ensure the water met those new standards.
The filter has lasted about a year and half, Barker said. Originally, it was supposed to cost $35,000 to replace, but the cost has gone up to around $41,000.
A Mesa-based firm will replace the filter medium after the beginning of July, Barker said.
