North House HVAC Moves Forward

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A $600,000 supplemental appropriation puts in motion long-delayed air quality improvements at Hurlbutt Elementary’s North House, as the school district aims to install new HVAC systems this summer at a total cost of $2.4 million.

The Board of Education voted on October 10 to request the supplemental after receiving an engineering report with several options. The report also firmed up cost estimates, which came in higher than ballpark figures put forth last year as the project weaved in an out of the budget process.

The report summarized conditions at North House as a “menagerie” of failed or failing systems, insufficient outside air to keep students alert and healthy, inadequate ventilation, and potential health consequences for students with respiratory issues.

The $600,000 approved by the Board of Finance on January 8 (out of phase, it turns out) is essentially a down payment. Left on the table is where the remaining $1.8 million comes from. It is not in this year’s Board of Education capital request, already at $2.65 million without it. Finance board members mused about possibly drawing again from reserves or bonding, but proceeded no further.

Timing

Phillip Cross, the school district’s finance director, told the Board of Selectmen on January 15 that, because budgets are not approved until May, a capital item this year would foreclose completing the project while school is out this summer. Not enough time would be left, he said, to issue requests for proposals, award a contract, and purchase equipment.

Mr. Cross told the selectmen that State funds may be available to offset a portion of costs. He said the State is “super focused” on school indoor air quality, and that a new mandate for inspection of HVAC systems comes with grant opportunities.

As it happens, the supplemental appropriation voted by the Board of Finance doesn’t exactly count, at least not yet. The Town Charter specifies that requests for off-budget allocations must originate at the Board of Selectmen and then be sent to the Board of Finance for approval.

The school board’s direct approach to Finance didn’t follow that sequence. So, catching the error, the first selectwoman added the matter to her board’s agenda on the 15^th. The selectmen considered and approved the appropriation, which now must go back to the Board of Finance for a re-vote, likely a formality.

A lot of catch-up

The need for HVAC replacement at North House has been known for a long time. It was documented in a detailed facilities assessment nine years ago that found, even then, many systems at or near end of life.

District facilities director Mike DelMastro said the North House system is a hodgepodge of stopgap and portable units that require numerous service calls, don’t get classroom temperatures down in the hottest months, don’t get them up in winter, consume excess energy, and require “intense maintenance.”

Similar conditions exist elsewhere on campus. On January 7, Mr. Cross told the Board of Education that over the next ten years $33 million will be needed to catch up on remediation of school buildings, not including Weston Middle School.

Mr. Cross said $20 million of that will be needed in the next five years and that more than one third of the total is required to address problems with indoor air quality.