Select Board offers more answers and hears comments on library HVAC

Residents posed more questions about the library HVAC project at the Select Board’s regular meeting on Oct. 5. 

The session followed a multi-board meeting on Sept. 28 at which officials explained the proposal for a geothermal ground-source heat pump (GSHP) system to replace the library’s aging gas boiler and other components of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system. On Oct. 8, they posted an FAQ document on the Special Town Meeting web page that addressed some of the questions raised at the two meetings.

Select Board member Jim Hutchinson summarized the project costs ($3.28 million for a conventional system or $3.7 million for a GSHP system). If residents choose the geothermal option at the Special Town Meeting on Oct. 24, funding would come from Community Preservation Committee and borrowing under the levy limit, meaning it would not result in an immediate tax increase, unlike bonding under a debt exclusion.

If the GSHP option is approved, the Town Meeting motion provides a backup of $1.55 million from the Stabilization Fund to cover any shortfall in anticipated tax credits or other project incentives, and any Stabilization Fund money used for that purpose would reduce the amount borrowed for the project, as noted in the FAQ.

The cost for a piece-by-piece conventional system replacement would start with $330,000 for a new gas boiler and then more in the future as other elements of the HVAC system are replaced on a schedule to be determined.

Other points mentioned by Hutchinson:

• Electrical upgrades costing about $490,000 will be needed regardless of which system voters choose.

• The promised $1 million Climate Leader Grant for a GSHP system would be forfeit because it can only be applied to “green” projects in town. The grant could be used toward other qualifying projects, but they have to be bundled into one application, and according to the Green Energy Committee, “they don’t have a ready-to-go million-dollar list of stuff to do,” Hutchinson said.

• The trigger for doing ADA upgrades would be triggered if the project cost exceeded 30% of the building’s assessed value. “That trigger point will almost certainly be hit for the GSHP option but there’s a good chance it will not be hit for the conventional option,” he said. However, “just because [legally required ADA work] isn’t triggered doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. We should probably have a discussion” about that while the conventional boiler is being replaced, if that’s what residents decide to do. Possible ADA upgrades include new or modified handrails and landings, improved door clearances and hardware, accessible counters and workstations, restroom improvements, drinking fountains, outlet relocation, and wider accessible routes between shelving, according to the FAQ.

• CPC funds will be used for at least some of the future work even if voters choose the conventional system.

In answer to the concern that the GSHP option is very expensive, Hutchinson noted that “people are tempted to look at the conventional option because it starts at $330,000 and I think there’s a very natural temptation to say, ‘Couldn’t we save a bunch of money that way?’ I would just caution people that that’s why we did this whole system design for the conventional approach. We cannot say there’s a way to save a lot of money on this project at this point.”

Resident David Cuetos questioned whether the estimate from PowerOptions was competitive since it was not being put out to bid. “This is being procured under an enabling statute; they’ve done their own procurement due diligence that meet the state’s procurement threshold,” Hutchinson responded. Though the pricing method is not project-specific, the state imprimatur is “just verifying the process as to how [the company] would go about pricing these options.”

The two options differ in total price by only about $400,000 “when you put those two [estimates] next to each other. That’s the way we’re presenting the choice but I don’t think that’s right,” said resident Paul Shelman. “I’d be willing to spend the short money to make the problem go away and then spend more money to get the best possible green project for the town.”

“What we’re asking is whether this is the most efficient way to get greenhouse gas reductions in town,” Hutchinson said.

There will be a final information session at the State of the Town (SOTT) meeting immediately preceding the Town Meeting on Oct. 24. SOTT begins at 9:00am with brief updates from various boards and a period for public input. The library HVAC information session begins at 9:45am and the Town Meeting starts at 10:30am.