Somerville’s director of infrastructure and asset management told the joint council/school committee that the city has awarded a contract to upgrade the Argentiano School production kitchen and plans to add a classroom in the building’s third-floor atrium this summer.

Director Raich said the kitchen contract was awarded to Eagle Point after a second round of bidding produced complete proposals. Work includes new convection stoves, electrical and gas work, and a walk-in freezer near the loading dock; the freezer has a 10-week manufacturer lead time. Raich said enabling plumbing and electrical work could be completed during February and April school breaks, but full installation of the walk-in unit will likely continue into the summer once the unit is delivered.

School and city officials said restoring a production kitchen is important for cost and quality reasons: since the Winter Hill kitchen line closed, the district has relied on vendors and on the high school kitchen for scratch-cooked items. Food services director Laura Mancini and school leaders described the change as a loss of menu flexibility and an administrative priority to restore in-house production.

On a related facilities item, Raich and school leaders said architects from SMMA — the building’s original designers — will handle design work for a new classroom in the Argentiano atrium. That work is intended to be completed during summer construction so the room can be available for the following school year. Superintendent and school staff said the classroom addresses current space constraints and is part of a broader set of capital projects at the school.

No contentious votes were recorded on these items; the committee marked both updates as “work complete” and asked staff to return with timeline updates as projects proceed.