OXFORD — SAD 17 directors were told Monday night that the Operations Committee and administrators are looking at several options in replacing an oil tank at Oxford Hills Middle School that the state Department of Environmental Protection said must go.
“We’re still looking at all our options,” Nick DiConzo, chairman of the Operations Committee, said. The committee met before the board meeting to get more information and review options.
DiConzo said the DEP told school officials the oil tank has to be replaced because test results indicate it could start leaking, he said.
The committee has been reviewing three options that range widely in price from $22,000 for what he called “a quick fix” to as much as $800,000 for replacement of the entire heating system with a pellet furnace and a contract with Siemens Technology.
The district has been expanding its biomass projects throughout the district with Siemens Technology. The most recent contracts include the biomass furnaces at the Oxford Elementary School and Guy E. Rowe Elementary School in Norway that were installed last fall.
Energy-saving measures with Siemens have been done at eight of the district’s school buildings since fiscal year 2007 and include a biomass boiler at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris.
Until a decision is made, DiConzo said the administration will budget for a temporary measure that will place three smaller tanks inside the school and remove the old one.
School officials will also apply for Qualified School Construction Bond money to convert the steam heat system in the gym area to hot water, and Qualified Energy Conservation Bond money to replace the entire heat system and contract with Siemens.
The committee will discuss the options once it knows whether the funding applications are approved.
The district will also take into account whether it will receive state funds to renovate or reconstruct the middle school in Paris. Portable classrooms at the school were removed last year and classrooms created at a building on Madison Avenue in Oxford.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
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