Library Seeks New HVAC System

Voters will head to on Wednesday to vote on several proposals at the Special Town Meeting. One of those proposals is to spend up to $460,000 on a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system for the building. The cost includes a new HVAC system as well as an engineer to oversee the project.

The Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee have supported the proposal.

"Replacing the HVAC system at the library is essential for the maintaining of the library's collections and for the comfort of its patrons," Town Manager Mark Rees said. "We are also exploring grant and energy rebate possibilities to reduce the overall cost."

A Hot Mess

The library's HVAC systems failed this year during the hottest day in May, and the library had to operate through the summer -- one of the hottest on recent record -- without them. Portable air conditioners and fans were brought in, and it proved to be a very expensive summer for the library.

"It did increase the costs associated with electricity," Mary Rose Quinn, the library's director, said. The electric bill in July alone was about $5,400. "And there were places in the building that we were unable to use because the air conditioning wouldn't reach them. We had to cancel a lot of our summer programs, and it was a difficult time for the library."

The appearance of the building was less than stellar as well. The staff had to prop air conditioning units up in the windows with library stools. And the building was still uncomfortable and sticky.

In September, the Building Energy Assessment Report made recommendations of ways to fix the system. The report suggested replacing all the HVAC components with more up-to-date ones, since the current system relies on freon and freon is being phased out of use.

Seizing an Opportunity

In October, when the push for new fire trucks prompted the Board of Selectmen to call for a Special Town Meeting, Quinn said it presented an opportunity for the library to request its new HVAC system.

"When we realized that there would a Special Town Meeting in the fall, we realized [with November passage of spending approval] we would be able to get the work done in the spring so we would be able to have the system in place for next summer," Quinn said. If the library waited until 2011 Town Meeting in the spring, then construction would not begin until late summer and it would mean another summer of soaring electricity costs and discomfort.

The basic cost of the new HVAC system would be $156,000, and the Library Building Committee presented a couple different options that included project management and engineering as well as just the HVAC. The Finance Committee reviewed the proposal and decided the $460,000 option with project management and engineering, so as to have the project done right the first time and implement as much energy efficiency as possible.

Cost vs. Savings

The price tag on the new HVAC system -- almost a half million dollars -- is sure to make many in town cringe, especially when the Special Town Meeting was called in order to already spend $1.3 million on new fire trucks. In an economy with tightening budgets, decreasing state funding and long-lasting uncertainty, that price tag is tough for many to accept.

But Quinn, and the Finance Committee, have pointed out the potential savings involved in replacing the HVAC system with a new, state-of-the-art one.

"There are incentives for some of the equipment we're looking at through National Grid for energy efficiency, so there is a payback on that," Quinn said. "And just by replacing the technology, we're hoping for a 40 percent savings on an annual basis. "So it would be a direct savings to the town but also help us prioritize our budget. It's difficult when your budget is driven by the cost of electricity or cost of gas.""

Another thing saved would be the library's old book collection. The library is home to very old book collections, some first editions, as well as some of the town's oldest documents. Old paper is highly vulnerable to heat and moisture.

The library had a study performed under a federal grant that tested the temperatures in the building and showed that both temperature and moisture levels were too high for the collections to be protected. So even before the system died in the spring, there was concern over the HVAC system.

The Stevens Memorial Library is about 100 years old and has seen two building additions -- one in 1969 and another in 1994.

"We're not going anywhere," Quinn said. "We want to put in place a system that will conditions the air for our public and help us cool rooms where we have equipment and keep that at suitable temperatures so that we keep the equipment as long as we can."

The library will not be affected in the winter, because the building is heated from its boiler system.