Emily Hays Photo
Wexler Grant School (pictured): By summer, the heating will be fully fixed.
Wexler-Grant and Fair Haven schools will finally have five fully functional boilers by this summer, at least a year after the New Haven Public Schools started planning to upgrade the two schools’ heating systems.
Problems with the boiler at Wexler-Grant Community School made the building so cold in early February that the principal sent students home. There have been heating problems at the school for years; parents and teachers report that students regularly wear coats in class.
School system Executive Director of Facilities Joseph Barbarotta aired concerns about purchases like these taking so long, at the Board of Education’s Finance and Operations Committee meeting on Monday.
“We’ve been doing this for almost four months. The process is arduous,” Barbarotta said. “We have two contracts that are still waiting for final signatures on the city side. We know the low bidder. We’re just going through the final process.”
An employee of maintenance contractor Go To Services, Barbarotta handles many contracts for the district.
District Chief Financial Officer Phillip Penn countered that the bid process could be streamlined but that it exists for the sake of fiscal responsibility.
“Those steps get followed for reason too. It’s just time consuming. It’s been a four-month process, because we want to make sure we’re dotting our ‘i’s and crossing our ‘t’s when there are a couple hundred thousand dollars on each side,” Penn said as Barbarotta nodded.
Christopher Peak Pre-Pandemic File Photo
Barbarotta (pictured): Approval process “arduous.”
The Finance and Operations Committee decided to recommend the two boiler contracts to the full board for final approval.
SK Mechanical LLC won the bid to replace the boilers at Fair Haven Pre K — 8 School for a maximum cost of $360,575. The Manchester-based company was the lowest of two bidders.
This replacement will be particularly good for the environment compared to what was there before, Barbarotta said. Whereas the three boilers at Fair Haven run constantly when all are functional, this heating system only kicks on each boiler as it is needed.
East Hartford-based Boisvert Plumbing LLC beat out SK Mechanical and another company for the Wexler-Grant contract, promising to replace both boilers there for no more than $229,500.
Once all the paperwork is complete, actually installing the boilers should take about a month. Barbarotta expects the installation to be done by the beginning of July.
Excuse me, Peppe. The lowest bidder is not always the best choice. Most vendors who bid low substitute the cheapest product and take shortcuts that we will regret down the line. Haven't we seen enough of that with BRAND NEW BLDGS THAT LEAKED FROM DAY ONE?!?!?!?!?
Who doesn't know this????