By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — The proverbial “a dollar doesn’t go as far as it used to” carries over quite well into the world of large construction projects, where $50,000 doesn’t stretch nearly as far as it used to. In a seemingly too-good-to-be-true type of an offer during an Aug. 4 meeting, the RSU 39 School Board was presented with the option of getting two new boilers to serve as back-up heat at the high school and a new lined and code-compliant chimney for $50,000.
In the works for years, the new wood-chip fueled energy project currently being installed at the Caribou High School and Technical Center also includes the utilization of three back-up oil boilers. The plan, coordinated with the company TRANE, was to convert the current oil boilers from providing heat through steam to being able to heat the buildings with hot water.
While preparing for the conversion, contractors found that two of the boiler units have significant repair issues. By technologically cannibalizing one of the boilers, the two other units could be salvaged to effectively provide back-up heat to the buildings.
Utilizing the existing boilers would allow the school’s back-up heating units to temporarily bypass a new change of code that requires the school’s chimney to be lined for the life of the current back-up boilers; should the boiler units be replaced, the chimney would have to be fixed.
In a change order, TRANE has offered to forgoe the conversion of the two boilers to hot water and purchase two new hot water boilers for the school while furnishing the costs required to meet the new chimney code — ultimately providing the school with the necessary back-up heat and necessary code compliance — for $50,000.
According to RSU 39 Superintendent Frank McElwain, costs would meet or exceed $250,000 if the board were to attempt to purchase the boilers and code-compliant chimney independent from TRANE’s offer.
Some school board members were concerned about obtaining the additional $50,000 until McElwain explained that the cost center (operation and maintenance) would be able to stay within the current FY2010-11 budget and foot the bill due to a locked-in fuel oil prices that was significantly lower than originally allocated.
“I think $50,000 sounds a lot better than $250,000,” Board Member Dale Gordon said.
Board member Katherine Anderson agreed that it was best to go forward with the change order offered by TRANE and made a motion, which was unanimously approved.
