HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Town Office will now be a cooler place to be this summer after town councilors approved a new commercial air conditioning system for the building.
Councilors agreed to waive the bidding process and purchased a Trane 7.5-ton single compressor air conditioner for the town office at a cost of $6,576 from James H. McPartland and Sons. The cost of the unit will be added to an existing payment agreement the town has with the company when a $35,000 pellet furnace was installed on Dec. 9, 2013.
“The current air conditioner was purchased 37 years ago,” Town Manager Butch Asselin said. “It was serviced two weeks ago, and at that time it was indicated to us that it needed to be replaced.”
The town has an agreement with James H. McPartland and Sons to pay $12,000 per year for fuel and any savings the town sees as a result of the conversion to a pellet furnace versus heating oil. In 2014, $12,000 was budgeted for fuel expenses, but the town only spent $6,699 in heating costs. The remaining $5,301 was paid to McPartland’s business.
In other business, the council agreed to work with James Brown on a Tax Increment Finance District for an expansion project he is proposing at 93 Military St. The project calls for the expansion of the building that holds the Aroostook County Action Program to nearly double its current size. The expansion project will include creating a two-story addition to the structure and is estimated to cost $875,000.
