FARMINGTON – Members of SAD 9’s board awarded more than $650,000 in service contracts for school buildings Tuesday.
iBControls, a Falmouth company, got the bids when the board:
• Unanimously approved a $46,198 annual contract for the maintenance of school buildings.
• OK’d $38,115 to complete heating and ventilation repairs in all district buildings by a unanimous vote.
• Approved by a 9-5 vote an additional $573,000 in services, including energy management systems for all district buildings.
For months before Tuesday night’s vote, board members investigated the possibility of hiring iBControls, which specializes in boosting energy efficiency in the systems the company maintains.
Some board members expressed concerns Tuesday that contracting with iBControls for all the work the district needs done without any experience working with the maintenance firm is premature. Robert Flick of Farmington said he does not “like jumping into these things until we know where we’re going.”
Others, including Superintendent Mike Cormier, suggested that if necessary repairs and maintenance are not done soon, the school system would probably pay more in years to come.
Cormier added he thinks repairs to the district’s heating and electrical control systems are necessary. He said many SAD 9 schools have been operating with faulty systems for quite a while. The last time district heating and ventilation systems were upgraded was 12 years ago, Cormier said, when SAD 9 spent approximately $1 million on equipment retrofitted by Honeywell International.
“After 12 years, we’re in need of” repairs, Cormier said. “I believe we do what everybody in Franklin County does. If it’s broke and we can limp by for a couple years, we do that we don’t have a pile of money. But we’re here now. We need to move forward with something.”
Jo Josephson, who voted against the purchase of energy management systems from iBControls, said she hoped the board understood those voting against the measure “aren’t against energy efficiency.” But rather, she said, they want to be sure iBControls will provide what they have advertised before spending the additional money.
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