By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
The City of Decatur is moving forward on replacing the HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) system at the MERIT Center.
At its last meeting, the city’s board of works and safety approved a contract with the Dilling Group, headquartered in Logansport, to have installed, for the sum of $455,000, new boilers, controls and a pump at the former Northwest School building on Dayton Ave.
The costs are covered by a state READI grant of $290,000 and $200,000 Adams County has paid the city for a small hunk of land on the northeast corner of the lot on which the MERIT Center is situated.
The Council on Aging moved into the building well over a year ago and will begin to operate a countywide transportation service starting the first of the year. As part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the city and county, the city needs to update the building’s heating/cooling system.
The .7 of an acre of land bought by the county will become the site of a garage to be built by the county to house the transportation service’s vehicles.
The building, purchased by the city several years ago for $1 from the North Adams Schools system, has 55,000 square feet and most of it is being used by various organizations.
The HVAC system, however, is taking its last breaths.
The controls on the boilers are not working “and the boilers are running wild,” city Operations Manager Jeremy Gilbert told the board at its previous meeting.
Mayor Dan Rickord said at the same meeting, “Something needs to be done. I was out there today and one room was at 60 degrees and another at 80.”
A new chiller is needed for the system, but it will take months to secure one. So the board has decided to draw up a contract to purchase a chiller before the end of the year to avoid a price hike, then figure out how to pay for it when it arrives next fall.
ANOTHER CONTRACT:
The board also approved a contract to retain Christopher B. Burke Engineering for another year.
The city pays the firm a sum not to exceed $50,000 annually to provide “ongoing support to complete the required permit activities and as needed support services to assist the city.” Other services are also provided.
Utilities Director Kevin Hackman recommended continuing to use Burke for such services.
“We have had a good relationship with them,” he told the board.