Dave Coccimiglio was officially introduced as the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board’s new manager of plant services at Wednesday’s board meeting.
Coccimiglio began his new role on Feb. 10. He succeeds soon-to-retire Steve Brown in that position.
“I'm really excited about it and happy to be here,” Coccimiglio told SooToday.
He brings nearly 30 years of facility management experience to the role.
The role of H-SCDSB manager of plant services is a highly responsible one.
“I'm responsible for the maintenance and capital upgrades for all school board facilities. So, that would be schools in the Sault and the north and east districts. And it includes all maintenance and cleaning staff as well as work performed by external contractors. I would manage the budgets, the multi-year capital plan, compliance with legislation, codes and board policies,” Coccimiglio said.
The board has 16 elementary schools throughout the Sault and Algoma District, St. Mary’s College at the secondary level, Holy Angels Learning Centre, St. Kateri Outdoor Learning Centre, the board’s main office building on Ontario Avenue and several storage buildings to maintain.
“We want to maintain a safe environment for our students and staff. With the student environment there are a lot of different things to consider,” Coccimiglio said.
Prioritizing maintenance and repair work on the board’s many buildings is key as time passes by.
“A lot of our buildings are aging. We primarily have to do a lot of our work in the summer. So that gives us two months to not only get the work done in that one school, but also coordinate multiple schools and fit in under our budget. I'd love to do even more work with more time and more money,” Coccimiglio said.
Historically, the board receives approximately $4 million a year from the Ministry of Education for capital projects.
The board’s capital project list for 2025 was passed at an earlier board meeting.
“There are seven jobs that are either underway or scheduled for 2025. There's some work that's kind of overlapping. We have some work going on at St. Kateri right now. It's a full renovation. It's an addition to it and some alterations to the existing building but the majority of our work is going to be over the summer months,” Coccimiglio said.
Other projects on the board’s list include improvements at St. Mary elementary school in Massey, Our Lady of Fatima in Elliot Lake as well as St. Mary's French Immersion and St. Mary’s College in the Sault.
Attending his first board meeting as H-SCDSB manager of plant services Wednesday, trustees approved a re-roofing and electrical upgrade for St. Mary’s Catholic School in Blind River for $653,000. The budgeted cost for that project is $800,000.
A Sault College architectural technology graduate, Coccimiglio worked with the H-SCDSB from 2018 to 2024. He worked at Sault College as that institution’s manager of maintenance operations before rejoining the Catholic school board in his new position.
“I've been in facilities management my whole career and holding different roles. This is by far the most challenging but I also think it'll be the most rewarding as well,” Coccimiglio said.