(Audubon) A discussion on when to replace the HVAC system in the Audubon County Courthouse was held this week by the Board of Supervisors.
The current steam system is outdated, but the project may have to be delayed until next year depending on how quickly a crew could finish the work. “We are about a month and a half behind our initial schedule as far as getting bid letting done and we were wondering if we were pushing it too much and need to hold off a year. It would of course have to be done and installed before October so that we can heat the court house in the winter. Once we start tearing things out in the old system with the old steam pipes we are kind of committed and it has to be operational.”
Supervisors chairman Doug Sorensen says the board will consult with contractors and see if getting the project done on time is feasible. “Whether they would have time to get it done. Whether it would be their preference as a whole to bid it for next year. There’s supply chain issues particularly in the electrical portion of it. There are so many things that are hard to obtain in terms of the components. We’re being very cautions so that we don’t get ourselves into a sticky wicket where we don’t have a heating system operational over winter.”
The current system has been around since 1940. “It’s an old steam system. It has the steam registers on the walls. Everything is 82 years old except the boiler. The boiler is only 40.” Sorensen laughs, “Wow it’s only 40. It’s been replaced. It just has so much date on it. We keep bailing wiring the thing together to keep it running, but since they day I took office it was one of the things on my agenda that we have to get this thing replaced.”
Sorensen says it’s a consensus between the Supervisors and the custodian that they are operating on borrowed time. The opportunity to get things updated presented itself with American Rescue Plan funding if they tie in the ventilation system.
