BOE approves urgent HVAC work

The New Richmond Board of Education approved an Urgent Necessity Resolution at a special board meeting Sept. 6 authorizing Supt. Adam Bird to obtain bids and award a contract for the replacement of 12 rooftop HVAC units at New Richmond Elementary School.

“In addition to the 11 units we were going to replace we had a fire in a 12th unit over the Labor Day weekend,” noted Bird, who awarded the contract to DeBra-Kuempel Friday after reviewing two competing bids.

The normal bid process would have pushed the project well into the heating season.

New Richmond Elementary (right) is heated and cooled by
38 aging HVAC rooftop units.

DeBra-Kuempel originally bid $146,000 to replace 11 units but agreed to replace the 12th unit for $4000 more. DeBra-Kuempel’s bid was $21,000 under the second bid according to Bird.

 “New Richmond taxpayers are not losing at all on this job,” said Bird. “If we went through the regular bid procedure, NREVSD would not have gotten a better price.”

New Richmond Elementary is heated and cooled by 38 rooftop units which have reached their estimated 15-year lifespan. The units being replaced have been deemed either un-repairable or too costly to repair by the district’s maintenance staff and contractors. The new units will be approximately 50 percent more efficient.

The Board had studied replacing the 38 rooftop units with new to the U.S. market VRF (variable refrigerant flow) or VRV (variable refrigerant volume) systems as well as a chiller system which heat the district’s other buildings. VRF and VRV are ductless systems which allow one condensing unit to be connected to multiple evaporators. 

 “VRF and VRV systems would have cost $1.2 to $1.3 million,” noted Bird. “And a chiller system would have cost about the same and required extensive duct work. Your options are limited when you have a sprawling one-floor building like NRE.”

DeBra-Kuempel will perform the replacement work on weekends to prevent any disruption to classes at NRE.